As Long As We're Still Breathing Air
by enelle1989
Summary: Twenty years after the outbreak of the virus that killed half of the world's population and turned another half into zombies, Heero meets Relena. Soon the fondness sprouts between them, giving hope to the world to get back to normal, but are they prepared for it? Rated for language, violence, and lemons. / AU, great inspiration in The Last of Us series. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

As Long As We're Still Breathing Air

_Twenty years after the outbreak of the virus that killed half of the world's population and turned another half into zombies, Heero meets Relena. Soon the fondness sprouts between them, giving hope to the world to get back to normal, but are they prepared for it? Rated for language, violence, and lemons in future chapters._

AU, but very greatly inspired by the universe of **The Last of Us** game series.

Disclaimer: I don't own absolutely anything of the Gundam Wing nor The Last of Us series, everything belongs to their respective owners. When it comes to Gundam Wing, it belongs to Sunrise and Bandai, and The Last of Us belongs to Naughty Dog and Sony, while it was being created by a genius Neil Druckmann. These two stories influenced me a lot, inspiring and moving me, and also partly shaped me as a human. This piece of the story is a pure fanfiction, written by a fan for the fans. I don't get any profit from it, nor I don't claim it as my own.

I'm not an English-speaker, so if there are mistakes, forgive me, I'm doing my best to avoid them.

If you stumbled upon this story, you probably, like myself, love all the romantic moments between Heero and Relena. For your convenience, I marked the chapters with fluffy moments with an "x". I would be pleased if you, Dear Reader, were interested in the whole story, but if you only like the romantic passages, I will also be honored. 

Please leave feedback. Enjoy.

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Chapter 1 - Prologue

_June_

He looked her straight in the eyes, realizing the inevitable.

"This is it. This is the end," he heard himself muttering, but the truth didn't seem to reach his brain just yet. He slowly lifted his gun.

She made a step closer, reaching her hands out to him, tears falling down her pale, horrified face. She kept calling him by his name over and over again.

He knew her voice would _haunt_ him forever.

"Stay away from me," he warned her, unable to hide a slight tremble in his voice.

What stopped her from making another step in his direction was a sound of the reloaded gun, pointed at the center of her forehead. There she stood, like a deer, held at his gunpoint, her eyes widened with horror that was yet awaiting her.

"One more step..." he hissed through clenched teeth, "and I will kill you."

.

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_March_

He deftly jumped over the metallic fence and braced on his knees upon landing on the concrete. He held his gun ready in front of him, his steely eyes carefully examining the surroundings for any signs of the patrol. He finally noticed a concealed entrance to the tunnel on the other side of the ruined pavement. Suddenly a strong stench of decay coming from the inside filled his nostrils. It always surprised him that after surviving so long in the dirt and pollution of the shithole called 'quarantine zone' he was still able to smell anything at all.

Another ten seconds of silence ensured him that it was safe to trespass. Slowly, on bent knees, he approached the tunnel and threw aside the board covering the entrance, feeling a few splinters sting his fingers. After another ten seconds of listening, he slid himself down into the dark hole, disappearing from the sunlight.

The bottom was dark as night and full of rubble that crunched under his feet. The reek was still intense, but he could feel a breath of cold wind coming somewhere from the darkness. The tunnel had to be passable, though somebody tried to ruin it. Maybe even somebody was rotting in it. He rubbed his forehead with the back of his _less dirty_ hand and reached into his breast pocket, pulling out a flashlight, immediately switching it on and directing towards the dark.

The contour of the rubble emerged out of the shadow. Right behind it, he could notice a corridor filled with rusted pipes that led further down. The rifle strip sliced into his arm, so he slung it onto another. He held the gun with the flashlight straight in front of him. Then, without further hesitation, he slowly walked into the tunnel.

The man was on the job again. Well paid one, as always. It was a waste of time taking cheap jobs _these days_. But he didn't bother risking his life to the limits where other smugglers would withdraw. This provided him with a constant supply of new assignments.

That day Heero Yuy planned it to be a _typical_, rather easy job.

Two weeks ago, another smuggler took up a task to deliver a batch of guns and ammo. Because inside the zone only the military had the right to legally carry a weapon, if somebody wanted a gun, he had to refer himself to a smuggler. And pay _a lot_. The batch usually had to be retrieved from one of the transfer points outside the northern border of the zone - a dangerous spot, full of _these things_. But well hidden from the guard's sight.

Only two possible reasons were explaining why the smuggler didn't return with the merchandise. First - he seized the merch and flew with it. Only a madman would decide on antagonizing clients against himself and blocking himself the way back to the zone. So it wasn't likely. Second - his body rotted god only knew where along with the merch. That was very much likely. And Heero was now being paid to find it.

He bent even lower and crawled through a narrow isthmus in the rubble. The light of his flashlight swayed violently with the movement of his body, the debris wiped his calloused hands, and his throat went dry with dust that filled the air. He held his breath, listening, but all he heard was the loud howling of the wind echoing inside the tunnel. Then he allowed himself to cough to clear the dust out of his throat and continued along the passage. Soon the rubble ended, and he entered a corridor nestled between rows of pipes. He stood up and walked it silently, listening, and being prepared to shoot at anything that came up his way.

Soon Heero's senses strengthened as he noticed the first deathly danger. It was pointless shooting at it. He instantly held his breath. With a swift, reflexive move, he pulled out a gas protection mask and put it on a nanosecond before a cloud of yellow-colored _dust_ filled the air around him.

_Spores_.

His gas mask made a low swish as he inhaled. His vision blurred in yellow. His worst predictions were accurate. The fungus had been developing in here for days, if not for weeks. Maybe the former smuggler wasn't so alert to notice spores until it was too late and they filled his lungs. That also meant, paradoxically, that Heero could no longer consider himself the only _living_ _creature_ in this godforsaken place.

The corridor ended with a broken hole in the brick-built wall. Heero swung his leg over and walked into something that looked like a labyrinth of cellars. The light of his flashlight flickered dangerously as if it was running out of batteries. Heero shook the damn junk firmly a few times until it was working correctly again. He realized that he was stepping on something wet and sticky. When he directed his flashlight against the floor, it illuminated many red stains and streaks, that vanished in the darkness in front of him. As if somebody was _dragged_ there.

Then a _low, tortured howl_ reached his ears.

Heero felt his muscles tightening in alert at this hellish sound. He knew it damn too well, though the light of his flashlight couldn't yet find its source. He considered for a second pulling out his rifle, but using a long-barreled weapon in a ruined underground cellar didn't seem a smart idea. Instead, he reloaded his gun and aimed it straight ahead, then took a few more steps closer to the center of hell.

The cloud of spores around him was getting more and more turbid; the bloodstains on the floor were getting drier. He knew he had to be close - the prey was losing its blood, and by then, it was probably just a corpse dragged on the floor. Then he noticed a belt bag. Inside he found one full ammo magazine; somebody didn't have the opportunity to use it. He also found a roll of bandage and plaster. He slid the ammo to one of the pockets in his jeans jacket and the dressing to his backpack.

When he tipped his head up again, his flashlight illuminated the smuggler. Or instead, what was _left_ of him. The poor man was lying in the corner, almost ripped in half, guts tangled in his legs. His head was hanging on skin cloth against his chest, a piece of spinal column protruded from the broken neck. The fungus was already sprouting on his corpse, flourishing with huge, but ominous flowers and stem.

His pulse quickened as he heard a rustle in the darkness behind him. He turned around in a flash and searched the surroundings again. He started to distinguish other sounds that were becoming louder with every second. _Panting_, _spluttering_. And _clicking_.

So _it_ was coming.

Heero lifted his gun and aligned it with the flashlight in his hand, ready to shoot on sight. He gritted his teeth; he won't finish like this poor fool lying beside him. He had a job to do; he had to get out of here.

And there, from the darkness, in the cloud of spores, _it_ walked towards him. Its head didn't have a face; it looked like its head was chopped in two, fungus sprouting from his brain, and right underneath it revealed a mouth full of sharp, exposed teeth. Its skin was covered by straps of dirty material and was nearly grey because of the loss of blood, ripped with countless minor wounds. It walked barefoot, swaying on insecure legs, swinging long, skinny arms around.

A living dead. Infected. The Clicker.

Heero held his breath under the gas mask as he watched the monster in the ray of light from his flashlight, taking on the advantage that he still had _eyes_. The Clicker tripped a little, without pausing that clicking sound. It didn't spot him yet, and Heero preferred it to stay that way. He had to reach the other end of the cellar, where he expected the exit to be located. He had to keep moving. Staying anywhere longer than necessary could be lethal. Heero slowly started to move on bended knees counterclockwise around the Clicker, holding it on gunpoint. Each time the Clicker turned in convulsion in his direction, he froze, slowing his breathing, listening to any other sounds from the darkness just behind his back.

A few meters further, he stepped on something. It was a belt of the black sporty-type bag. Heero carefully grabbed his gun and flashlight in one hand, still eying the Clicker, then slowly opened the bag. _Bingo_. Inside there were the lost guns and ammo, unharmed. Heero carefully got two revolvers and put them behind his trousers' belt.

The Clicker was still turned with his back on him, moving towards the entrance of the tunnel, through which Heero had got here. Heero took the opportunity and quickly started packing packages with all kinds of ammo to his backpack. It was his reward for accomplishing the mission. The merch was indeed goodly, as the bag was still full even when he took his share. Heero zipped his backpack and throwing it behind his back next to his long rifle he took the flashlight in his other hand to inspect where did the Clicker go.

Then, suddenly, everything got out of control when an unexpected rumble from the other side of the cellar, just behind Heero's back, made the floor tremble.

The Clicker immediately turned in Heero's direction and attacked him with a loud shriek. Before Heero could aim, his back hit the ground. He felt skinny claws clenching around him. His rifle and backpack dug in his spine under his and the monster's weight, and he stretched his neck back, wrestling with the Clicker's claws. It was snapping its sharp teeth repeatedly, each time closer to Heero's throat. Heero could feel its reeking, hot breath on his skin, and spills of saliva mixed with the blood of the Clicker's last meal.

In the fight, he had lost his gun. His flashlight was lying somewhere on the floor around them and illuminated the Infected from behind. Heero tightened his grip of the Clicker's shoulder and under its jaw, trying to push it away as far as possible, but the monster pressed against him with all its strength.

Then Heero made one last effort and reached with his right hand to get his knife. The moment the blade shined in the ray of the flashlight, it immediately sank into the Clicker's neck.

And then once more. And more.

After bursting into a loud shriek, the Clicker slowly quietened as Heero continued blindly throwing stabs until he felt the monster becoming a dead weight on him. He felt the rest of the Clicker's warm blood running down on his chest and quickly disentangled himself from its grip.

He was all right. No bites.

He quickly shoved his knife into his pocket, reached for the flashlight and his gun, and was just about to bend down to take the bag with merch when a loud bellow followed by a stomping sound of several pairs of feet reached his conscience.

The Runners. _Fuck the merch_.

Heero whipped around and bolted into the tunnel. He knew they were close. The light from his flashlight was jumping around, allowing him to remember where was the ground, while he ran in only one right direction - where he felt the wind coming from. Hoping that it meant the exit. He heard constant shrieks and gasping behind him. One of the Runners got close enough to grip his jacket. Without stopping and turning around, Heero aimed his gun just under and behind his right underarm and pulled the trigger. The weapon fired with thunder that echoed in the tunnel, and the grip momentarily stopped. Heero continued to run.

The corridor ended with a light. It could be a door or a hole, Heero didn't care. Though they say you shouldn't follow the light, that moment it seemed the only chance for him. He sped up, losing the infected behind him. But the closer he got to it, the more desperate his situation seemed.

He braked abruptly as the corridor ended with a high wall. The light was coming from the hole about three meters above him.

His advantage was shrinking, and it was too high to jump up or climb in such a short time. Heero reached his gun and reloaded it, readying himself to fight through his last seconds before meeting his fate.

Then he heard a voice.

"Over here!"

His head snapped up. Blinded by the ray of sunlight, he could only notice a black silhouette leaning over the hole, reaching an arm down to him. He _could_ reach it. But he hesitated.

"Hurry, man! Grab it!"

Heero could see runners looming up from the darkness and bolting in his direction with a wild growl. He didn't think any second longer. He took a few steps back, ran-up, made a jump, the highest jump he could make, and shot his hand up in the air.

* * *

TBC

Comments and reviews welcome.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Rescue

Chapter 2 - The Rescue

The hand from the sky caught him in a steely grip.

Heero braced with both legs against the wall of the cellar and bounced back up. He could hear the enraged howl of runners left just below him. With his other hand, he got hold of the edge and pulled himself uplift from the hole.

Once outside, he rolled away on the grass and reached for his gun. But his savior was faster and halted him with a revolver aimed at the center of his forefront.

"Think it through, buddy," the man with a long braid sent him a cocky smirk. Heero looked up through his gas mask, slowly withholding his hand from the gun. "You just made it alive from hell, it would be a shame get a bullet between the eyes from the very same guy who had sav-"

The man didn't get to finish the sentence as Heero bolted up straight, pushing the gun away. The revolver shot in the air around them when Heero knocked the other man down, grinding him against the ground.

"You son of-" the long-haired man cursed as Heero pinned his chest to the grass with his knee and reached for the gun.

What froze him still was a cold, hard, round object hammering at the back of his skull and a soft but authoritative voice.

"Let him go!"

Heero calculated the odds, and this time the result for him came negative. The gun was digging harder into the skin of his head.

"On your feet," spoke the same, female voice. Heero reluctantly got off the long-haired guy and slumped against his heels, raising up both hands in a surrender gesture. "Slowly," commanded the voice from behind. Heero froze for a second, then obediently, slowly straightened himself up. He could feel first raindrops on the back of his neck.

The braided guy reached for his gun as soon as he got liberated and quickly got up, aiming at Heero, this time preserving enough space between them. "Thanks, angel," he muttered to his companion that was still standing somewhere beyond Heero's eye range. "That was clever. Now, let's skip further courtesies. Take off this gas mask."

Heero didn't react, standing still with both hands wrapped up behind his head. His savior glanced knowingly through him, at his companion, and then back at Heero. "C' mon buddy, don't make me repeat myself," he said, sounding somehow merrily. "Don't be rude, we have a lady here."

Heero couldn't care less about that particular reason, but he wore the mask long enough to feel uncomfortable. Nevertheless, it was still soiled with the Clicker's blood. And though it meant obeying the cocky man's orders, that was what he wanted to do anyway. So he removed the mask, feeling fresh, moist air filling his lungs.

"What were you doin' there, pal?" asked the long-haired guy, tilting his head slightly in the tunnel's direction. "You don't seem like you had lost your way home."

"Not _your_ fucking business."

The long-haired puffed at those words. "I know that times are hard. But haven't I already mentioned that we have a lady in our company? You should know how to behave and at least speak decently."

"Duo, stop this charade," the lady's voice finally got a personification as its owner walked from behind Heero and stood next to the long-haired guy. Heero shot a glance, realizing with anger that he overestimated the possible thread coming from this woman as his opponent. She was shorter than him and very skinny, her long, honey hair was combed in a low ponytail. She was still aiming at him, holding the gun with both hands, and her knuckles already turned white. Her track jacket started getting wet because of the rain. She returned Heero's glance, fixating at him her ocean-blue eyes. "Play open cards. If you were after the lost guns, so we were too."

She sounded much more imminent than she looked. In other circumstances, Heero'd probably consider it sexy. "No idea what you're talking about," Heero replied, poker-faced, both hands still wrapped behind his head.

The man apparently called 'Duo' adjusted the black baseball cap on his head. "You're a lucky bastard that you've bounced on us. Anybody else would have left you in that den for infected' prey and then got down there to retrieve the merch over your dead body."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"Because I offered it to you long before you had the chance to even spot me," Duo lowered his gun just a little, looking Heero straight in the eyes. The woman still held him at gunpoint. "Look, pal, I don't have to kill you. Frankly, I don't really wanna, because I see in your eyes that you're not like most smugglers I know. And we could help each other."

Duo made a pause. The storm thundered, and the bolt hit somewhere on the other side of the city. The rain was straightening. "How 'bout we make a deal?"

Heero furrowed his eyebrows, hiding his annoyance.

"Forget 'bout that stuff," Duo pointed at the hole. "Now that you've woken up all the shit luring down there, it's too dangerous for you to come back without proper support. But I see you know how to survive outside the zone," he scanned Heero from the top of his head to toes. "That's my offer. We'll pay you twice as much you were agreed on for this merch if you help us get to Houston."

Heero's face remained unchanged at this man's incredible nerve. "What makes you think I would consider this offer? You don't look like you stank a single penny."

"You truly are clever," Duo continued, wiping raindrops from his nose, "so I guess you already calculated your chances. You can't get to the merch through the tunnel filled with infected. Which makes your return to the zone even riskier." Duo sent him a sinister grin. "I've seen a warm welcome that awaits for a smuggler who failed a job."

Heero blinked as raindrops fell from his forehead on his eyelids, and it was his only visible reaction to the mention of the cruel practices in the smugglers' subculture. "Still, you don't look like you can afford me. Besides, Houston is far. _Fucking_ far," he emphasized. "It would take weeks to get there."

"No risk, no fun, huh?" Duo insisted with too much seriousness in his voice. "Now you're underestimating _us_, buddy. Plus, I want to remind you that you owe me for saving my life. Let me introduce us properly. I'm Duo Maxwell. And this dangerously beautiful lady over here," he motioned at the woman, "is Relena Peacecraft."

A man made a pause, letting the weight of the name sink between them. The woman got visibly nervous at Duo's behavior and shot him an anxious glance, but Duo gave her a reassuring 'I got it' look in return. Heero held his neutral look as he frowned at Relena. So in front of him stood the heiress of the Peacecraft family, which shipped total pacifism and disbarment when all countries worldwide continued to financially support the production of biological weapons. That eventually drove to the creation of the mutant _Cordyceps_ fungus and its - _supposedly_ accidental - emerge from the laboratories to the public. And so the pandemic began. The whole Peacecraft family was supposed to be dead by now.

Unless _those rumors_ were true.

"We have to get out of Philadelphia," Duo continued in a low voice, closing the distance between them and letting his gun fall to his side. "And reach Houston as soon as possible."

"I don't give the slightest damn 'bout that," Heero returned, his tone blank.

Duo was a bit catch off-guard as if he wanted to raise his gun at Heero once more, but then a smirk returned to his face. "Listen, bro, I was kind to ask-"

"Duo!" Relena interfered, turning abruptly behind. They all heard a loud rumble of engines. "Guards!"

"Fuck!" Duo cursed, turning away from Heero as if he never tried to kill him before and ran to get his backpack lying just next to the big, crooked "subway" sign. Relena stayed closer to him, gazing at Heero, her eyes full of anxiety. Noticing that, he quickly broke the eye contact, feeling unfamiliar chafe rising in his chest.

"So, what will it be?" Duo asked hurriedly.

Heero wiped the rain off his face and took his gas mask from the ground. "I don't have time for your businesses, but indeed, I have a favor to return. I'll show you a way to the other side of the Schuylkill River, then we'll part ways."

Duo grinned momentarily and looked reassuringly at Relena. "We'll make the most of that."

"This way," Heero commanded.

"Before we go..." he heard Relena's soft voice, "could you at least tell us your name?" He hesitated a moment to answer, but then he looked back at her.

"Heero Yuy."

* * *

TBC


	3. Chapter 3 - The Port

Chapter 3 - The Port

The night already fell on the streets of Philadelphia when the trio reached the banks of the Navy Yard. It was a two-hour long constant dash in the showering rain from the searching lights of the zone guards - through the drains, semi-destroyed subway tracks, abandoned buildings, and ruined, bombarded streets. Heero was only a little breathless when he opened doors to the abandoned warehouse. Duo was a little bit more winded than Heero.

But Relena fell on her knees the moment she crossed the threshold, panting for breath. Duo called her name and kneeled next to her. Heero looked around the warehouse, listening and inspecting it for any sign of danger. He reached the other end of the building and opened the back door to go out in the storm again. In front of him, on the background of a stormy sky, he could notice the black contours of the bridge - the only bridge that survived the bombardments. _They weren't far from the city limits_-

"Heero stop," he heard Duo's voice from behind. "She can't anymore."

Heero glanced over his shoulder, exasperated. Relena was heavily breathing, leaning on Duo's arms. Her trousers were soiled with dirt and blood from bruised knees. Her eyes were closed, hidden by the curtain of her thoroughly wet, honey bangs.

"Get up," Heero commanded. "We will reach the other side of the river in about one hour."

"We're staying the night here," Duo protested, emphasizing every syllable.

"If so, our deal is _off_," Heero closed the door back with a loud thud and darted his way back.

"Hey!" Duo got to his feet and blocked Heero's way. "Dude, the deal is still _on_. You agreed to get us past the river!"

"And only that. The deal didn't include wasting time in the port."

Duo seemed as if his words got caught in his throat for a moment. "She's wiped out," he muttered angrily, pointing at the woman sitting on the floor, "this dash was insane. Further running will kill her!"

"Carry her or leave her," Heero grounded out, sending him a steely gaze when the long-haired man gripped him by his jacket, clenching his other fist.

"You asshole...!"

"I'm all right."

They both turned in the voice's direction.

Relena was already standing and slowly limped towards them. She was dripping wet, just like them, but she was trembling like in a fever. Her knees were bruised, just like the insides of her hands. When she tilted her head up, Heero got startled by the intense look of her radiant, ocean-blue eyes.

He understood how bad he underestimated her. She was stronger than he thought. She would have gone now if he had ordered her to. She would have found the strength. Even if it meant for her to die trying. He unexpectedly felt uncomfortable under the power of that look of hers, more than he ever expected himself to be in similar circumstances. Relena brushed her wet bangs off her face leaving tiny bloodstains from the palms of her wounded hands on her white cheek and took another deep breath, trying to steady her breathing.

"I've rested. We can go now."

But Heero felt his feet glued to the ground.

Duo glanced at Relena and at Heero, then he let go of Heero's jacket and offered Relena a hand, that she gladly accepted, closing her eyes and leaning into him. Then Duo looked back over his shoulder to Heero. "We'll head out at dawn."

This time Heero didn't protest. He turned his gaze away and looked at his feet, clenching his fists.

_What the hell?_

x x x

"She's asleep."

Heero didn't look up at those Duo's words, still gazing over the Navy Yard through the window. Duo's silhouette stood between him and the little campfire they burned on the second level of the warehouse, casting a long shadow. The long-haired man waited for any of Heero's reaction, but when he didn't get any, he just sighed and slumped on the floor on the opposite side of the window frame. "You should sit by the fire, dry yourself out."

Heero turned his head slightly towards the campfire, noticing the outline of Relena's sleeping body in the corner. This strange, annoying feeling of guilt accompanied him every time he looked at her. "You're going to Houston," he asked, changing the subject, "because of those _laboratories_?"

Duo's face and silence indicated that this question hit the jackpot. The man arched his eyebrow, propping his elbow on a knee. "So, you've heard about them?"

Heero shrugged. "They say it's a rumor." He actually _thought_ that until Relena Peacecraft nearly shot his head off several hours before. If even one of the Peacecraft was still alive, that could mean the rumors were true. And that somewhere in Houston lay the hope for mankind.

"…but this rumor may be true. I know what you're thinking, dude," Duo muttered with a grin, and he shot an eye in Relena's direction too. "I actually wouldn't move my butt even for an inch outta zone if it weren't for her. Maybe now you're interested in keeping us company?"

"I don't do _company_," Heero answered calmly, but impassively. "Tomorrow, you cross the river, and we go our separate ways. _Dude_."

"Yeah, right," Duo sighed with a bored voice. He took out a little package from the pocket of his black jacket and opened it, then shoved in Heero's direction. Heero gave a slight glance at the gesture but then turned his head away. "That's a relief, actually," Duo spat, putting one cigarette in the corner of his mouth and lighting it. "They're getting harder and harder to get. I already had to wave goodbye to coffee. The moment all reserves of cigarettes go void, I'll have to kill myself."

Heero was still frowning at the alleys of the port beneath the warehouse. The long-haired eventually became curious, as he leaned over to peek at the spot. It stopped raining a while ago, the moon rose and illuminated the ruins of the city like a giant lamp. Beneath them, two figures were standing by the opposite buildings, about 200 meters away from their warehouse. They had two arms and two legs like humans but weren't ones anymore. They were wriggling and tripping, trembling, lowly moaning in the moonlight.

"Man, they're freaking me out," Duo sat back with a sigh and dragged a cigarette. Heero didn't say anything at Duo's obvious observation. He just brushed his bangs from the line of his sight and rested his hand back on his rifle, continuing his so-called watch.

"Hey," came Duo's voice again. "How old were you during the outbreak?"

Heero raised his eyebrow at the question. He couldn't remember when was the last time when somebody asked him about such personal stuff. Nobody cared how old he was. Nobody was celebrating eighteens anymore. The long-haired began to irritate him.

"Six."

"So we're all peers," Duo dragged his cigarette once more. He studied Heero long enough that it made him feel uncomfortable. "How did you survive? You've been smuggling since then?"

Heero finally swayed his head and frowned at Duo, his look a mixture of surprise and chafe. Experiencing it so many times during one day, he began to get used to this feeling. "Why do you care?"

"Me?" Duo lifted both eyebrows, posing a surprise. "I don't. I just like talking with people, that's all. I see you're not a talkative guy."

Heero shrugged at the remark and turned his head to continue watching the Clickers in the alley. "There's nothing to talk about."

They both sat in silence for a while. The air was chilly and the night peaceful; all they heard were the discontinuous, but safely distant moans of the infected.

"Actually, there's more than you think. If you're still alive, that means that somebody died for you to live."

Heero looked up curiously at the long-haired man. Duo was gazing at the moon, then took a deep breath, as if he was about to start a new sentence, but hesitated.

"_Seven_ seconds," he almost whispered after a moment. "In my case, all it took was _seven_ fucking seconds."

Then the past started to torment the man with double strength.

"When I heard her scream, it was already too late. It could have been me if she didn't save me. There was nothing I could do but to shoot off the _carrion_ that bit her. And then I killed _her_, so she didn't turn into one of _these_ things. Actually, it was she who pulled the trigger. She held my hand and pulled the trigger. I couldn't…"

Duo stopped and locked gazes with Heero. "Do you believe in God?"

Heero's look wandered somewhere beyond Duo. He didn't answer.

"If God exists," Duo continued after dragging his cigarette for a significant moment, "he doesn't play chess with humans' lives anymore, like our grandfathers used to say. If God exists, he plays Russian roulette with humans. And all it takes is seven seconds to decide whether you live-" Duo crossed his fingers the way it imitated a gun and aimed it at Heero. "-or you die."

Heero didn't say anything but noticed the change in Duo's eyes as he faced him once again. "I don't know why I'm telling you this," Duo spat suddenly, breaking the eye contact and rising on his feet. Heero's sight followed him as he walked away, then he turned his face to the night.

"I don't believe in God," he answered the question aloud.

Duo stopped in half step, then dragged his cigarette for the last time. "You're strong, Heero Yuy," he stubbed a cigarette with his boot. "Shame that you won't keep us company on the road to Houston."

Hearing this, Heero put the rifle from one hand to the other, resting the barrel on the other shoulder and looked over the port. The sky on the horizon slowly began to light up in gold and red. The unholy moans finally began to fade as the dawn approached.

* * *

TBC


	4. Chapter 4 - The Bridge

Chapter 4 - The Bridge

The creaking sound of the rusty, tin doors sounded way too loudly in the devastated and abandoned port as Heero pushed them wide open, inviting golden rays of morning light into their hideout. The morning sun blinded him for an instant. Though he knew that the Girard Point Bridge was near, he couldn't see it yet on the background of the burning globe. He narrowed his eyes and carefully took a look around, taking confident but soundless steps further outside, his hand on a gun in the waistband of his jeans. Just in case.

He could hear Duo and Relena following him, their footsteps, in contrary to his, perfectly audible on wet pavement. He turned to face them; Relena immediately raised her hand to cover her eyes from sunlight.

"The bridge is under the guard's surveillance," he informed, "so it's impossible to cross it on top. There's a maintenance corridor under the spans, guarded far less frequently. That's where we'll go through." Having said what he had to say, he turned his back to them anew without waiting for their consent or objections.

"Is it the only way?" Relena's voice, for the first time, sounded insecure to him. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Relena, c' mon," Duo reassured her, "we don't have much choice."

Heero wasn't listening to them anymore, as he strengthened his senses and walked through the port. The rising sun cast long, rather ominous shadows between the military buildings and the bushes that overgrown the estate for over twenty years. The atmosphere was getting denser. Although nature was claiming the terrain back, they couldn't hear birds; there was no wind. The only sounds were the continuous rustle of the splashing raindrops falling from leaves and the howls of the slow sinking, rust-eaten steely skeletons of military ships. As if all life abandoned this place.

The closer they were to the bridge and the formal zone's external border, the bigger the mess they witnessed; signs of fire, burned cars, bullet marks, abandoned personal belongings, garbage, and the most sinister of all - ubiquitous smell of rotting corpses and blood.

They turned around the corner and walked towards a smaller bridge leading them back on mainland down the Constitution Ave. They could finally see the neat and proud construction of the long, Girard Point Bridge in front of them. That was when Relena abruptly stopped.

"Wait. Do you hear that? It's like a rumbling…"

"It's not," Heero said gloomily, without stopping. "They're _flies_."

Duo winced in surprise. "Wha? I don't see any..."

A few meters further, the closer they were getting to the smaller bridge, the sound became more resonant; it nearly felt like a rustle in one's mind than in ears. It was omnipresent but still invisible.

And then, the symbol of terror that ruled their world appeared to their eyes in its full sinister glory.

"Holy fuck," Duo muttered.

"God... What happened here?" Heero heard Relena's trembled voice. It sounded a bit muffled as if she was covering her mouth with her hand.

They were welcomed into the kingdom of flies. They saw a macabre view of dozens of bodies hanging on the metallic construction of the bridge. The bridge looked like a densely suspended grotesque Christmas tree. Some of the corpses were almost skeletonized, and some seemed rather fresh; the vast majority of bodies were difficult to assess because of the clouds of fat, black flies flying around the hangers, like the pestilent banks.

Heero felt the deathly odor reaching his nostrils and instinctively rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. He didn't turn to face Relena, but gazed at the bodies, feeling a mixture of compassion and indifference. "The Grand Point Bridge is the only bridge left on Schuylkill River. The last entrance to the Philadelphia quarantine zone from the east side," he paused. "Being in the zone has its drawbacks, but also huge advantages. While you're fleeing the zone, there are dozens of people who risk their lives every day to illegally get _into_ the zone. Only a few of them succeed."

"They were killed…" Relena muttered almost inaudibly after a second, "…because they were seeking refuge?"

Heero sighed mentally at her obvious remark. "Apparently."

"C' mon," Duo suddenly hurried everyone, pressing a piece of cloth to his face. "If we have to pass through this fucking nightmarish place, then make it quick. Fuck, it reeks!"

And so did they hurried through the bridge as quick as they could, trying to get rid of this devilish feeling that the distorted faces of the dead, with a deathly grimace, were watching them.

The Grand Point Bridge was undergoing a massive renovation before the outbreak day; around its pillars, there were still scaffoldings, which didn't look too stable after 20 years. Most of them weren't. But bypassing this bridge many times, Heero already knew this particular span, which made it possible to safely climb up.

When the sun was already high in the sky, the trio reached the scaffolding and began climbing. Heero went first, followed by Relena and Duo at the end. They entered the narrow technical corridor between the metal pipes, Heero understood that something was not ordinary. He stopped abruptly in the aisle.

"What happened, Heero?" he heard Relena's soft, alarmed voice.

He didn't have time to answer or warn them when gunshots filled the air around them in the narrow passage. The worst came; they've been spotted. There was hardly a place to hide from the bullets. The trio darted to escape, the fastest they could, in the only possible direction: towards the river.

"Relena, run!" Duo yelled at the girl, as he shielded them and tried to shoot blindly at their aggressors. "You have to run faster!"

Relena screamed as the bullet flew just around her shoulder. Then the sudden loud rumble of tires from above made Heero realize, that the guards already had equaled them by riding uphill, an asphalt road leading upon the bridge. Their only hope was now that they won't locate them precisely from above and that the barriers and barricades left on the deck along with the abandoned refugees' cars will temporarily block them.

Otherwise, they had no chance of surviving this ambush.

Heero looked back over his shoulder. Relena was still running, and Duo was trying to point his gun every once in a while to blindly shoot behind. They were already above the river.

"Duo, leave it, just-"

But then everything exploded.

The force of the impact knocked Heero off his feet and threw far forward. His body braced abruptly against the large metal pipe as his shoulder struck its bottom, but he somehow managed to protect his head from shattering. Excruciating pain in his shoulder temporarily obscured his image, he was stunned, dark smoke biting him in the eyes.

He wasn't sure if he was getting his hearing back or if the world got quiet for a second. Kept in awake by adrenaline, he got up on unsteady legs and looked around for that braided idiot and the girl. Though the voice of reason at the back of his head kept telling him to leave everything and run away, something stopped him from doing so.

The smoke thinned, and he noticed them. Duo was lying on the ground, Relena was kneeling beside him. When he came closer, his brain couldn't define, at which point did Duo's clothes become so red...

Relena was calling Duo by his name, then she spotted Heero. Her eyes were full of terror, but she didn't seem hurt. She was pressing her hands over the braided man's neck. "Please… Help him!" she begged, tears already forming in her blue eyes.

Heero looked down at the puddle of blood that widened with every second and then at Duo's riddled body. The long-haired man finally opened his eyes and glanced up at Heero. His look told that _he knew_; there was nothing to save. But these weren't the eyes of a man lamenting over losing his life. His eyes were so intense. And he stared at Heero with such intensity, as if his gaze had the power to break human bones.

"Relena-" Duo spoke, without taking his eyes off Heero. "You have to go with him."

"What? No!" Relena resisted stubbornly. "You'll be fine, we need to run, you have to get up-" She tried to lift him up, but he growled out of pain and slumped again on the floor.

"Listen," he commanded, his voice shaky, bubbling with blood. "You've got to survive. And _he will_ guide you to Houston."

Heero opened his mouth to protest. The smoke was fading, they heard tires above them again, and the shouts of guards coming from behind. They were getting close. But Duo turned his gaze back to him.

"_She_ is the last hope for mankind to ever get back to normal," he gripped Heero's jacket, pulling his face closer to his. His eyes blazed with a living fire, every vein of his body in which blood still flowed desperately trying to force Heero to fulfill his last wish. "Promise me, Heero," Duo muttered, "that you'll get her… to Houston."

Heero frowned at those desperate eyes, hesitating. Duo's face was already turning blue, and the grasp of his hand on Heero's jacket weakened with every fraction of a second. Relena was crying, still trying to squeeze deep wounds on his chest. That moment Heero remembered Duo's words. Those about giving their lives for somebody. He eventually bowed his head a little, hiding his eyes behind the curtain of his brown bangs and nodded. "I understand."

In his final moments, Duo grinned again, this time with a remarkable relief on his face. "Okay, buddy," he whispered, letting go of Heero's jacket. "Now go. I'll take care of these suckers."

Without any other word, Heero got up, taking Duo's rifle and backpack. But Relena didn't move an inch from Duo.

"No! I won't leave you to die!" Tears were falling down her face, but Duo pushed her abruptly away from him.

"You will, babe. Get outta here. Remember... survive."

"No, Duo!" Relena shouted when Heero gripped her arm in a steely grasp and made her get up on feet. She tried to break free, but he was stronger and effortlessly dragged her away from Duo's body. She reached her other hand out. "Let me go! Duo!"

"Fare thee well, Relena," Duo muttered, propping himself up on rubble behind his back, facing the other way, without looking back at her. Relena's screams quickly faded in the distance, or maybe it was him losing his consciousness. Duo gritted his teeth. He couldn't die just yet. He had one more thing to do.

He slid his hand into the pocket of his jacket, pulling out a small grenade and a piece of worn, creased paper. He smoothed the paper with trembling, bloody hands gazing at the familiar, loving face in the picture with apparent relief and calm.

Then four ghastly black figures in huge gas masks emerged from the smoke in front of him and circled him.

"So you've finally come," Duo murmured after a moment. "My four riders of the apocalypse."

The silhouettes lifted barrels of four machine guns, aiming at the dying man, about to finish the work started by the explosion.

Duo took his last breath, then pulled the cotter pin.

"_Hilde_. I missed you so much..."

* * *

TBC

So, here begins the story of Heero and Relena's journey. It wasn't an easy thing for me to kill Duo off, as I truly like this character, but… The story has its own rules.

See you in the next part. Let me know in the comments what you think so far. :)


	5. Chapter 5 - The Buffer Zone x

Chapter 5 - The Buffer Zone

_Relena POV_

The second explosion caused the whole bridge to shake, and its external metal structure almost waved like pasta. Relena whipped her head back, seeing the bridge being torn apart by a fireball brighter than the sun, and realized that she won't see Duo Maxwell any more.

That half-stranger, a brown-haired struggler with murderous, icy-cold eyes, was continually running, trailing her behind him, not letting go of her wrist. He was running definitely faster than she was able to. When she kept losing ground under her feet, she was falling over, and then she always felt severe pain as he unceremoniously lifted her up and brought upright, gripping her arms. He was commanding her to _keep running_; he didn't say anything else. She lost count of how long they ran. The bridge seemed endless, but she could no longer hear the pursuit behind them.

She ran in silence, without complaining, mourning in her heart at the loss of a friend. She didn't care what will happen to her next; either they'll get caught or not. Either they'll be shot or hanged on that horrible bridge. Her body moved on autopilot, succumbing to superhuman effort thanks to the last adrenaline reservoirs in her veins. And she kept on crying, cold wind whipping her skin.

She didn't remember how or when did they got off the bridge and reached the ground again. She noticed Heero's run gradually slowing down until he stopped. He eventually let go of her wrist. It felt as if someone disconnected her from the electricity. Her legs refused to obey, and she fell on her already wounded knees and then further down, using her last strength to protect her head from the hit against the ground.

Then her mind went blank, and she lost consciousness.

x x x

When Relena woke up, she felt lost in time and space. The moon was hanging far up in the sky. She felt the chilly air stabbing her cheeks and a warm material wrapped around her shoulders and legs. She recognized it as her own jacket.

She sat up, propping herself on her hands, and looked around. In the light of the moon, she noticed the silhouette of Heero, only a few meters away from her. He didn't look at her; he knelt down, placing an empty glass bottle on the ground.

"Heero?" she asked, her voice hoarse. He tilted his head up for a moment in response but didn't say anything. Then he laid himself down, positioning his right shoulder blade precisely over the bottle so that the rest of his upper body rested on the ground and on the bottleneck. "What are you doing?"

"Relocating my shoulder," he replied, reaching across his torso with his left hand and positioning it on his upper arm, right under his right clavicle.

Before Relena could say anything, he pressed his left hand _hard_ downwards, letting out a stiffed, wild grunt through the gritted teeth. The bottle under his shoulder worked like a lever and got stuck in the ground, miraculously without getting broken. A popping sound of relocating bones came from the inside of his body. Heero's spine arched upwards, and he inhaled air with a loud hiss, then eased back on the ground.

Relena watched the mysterious guy with widened eyes as he laid still for a minute after this act of apparently very painful self-aid, his eyes closed, heavy breathing, still gripping his shoulder. She imagined that the pain had to be enormous, yet he took it so quietly. She couldn't deny her respect for his endurance.

She looked around their surroundings. Behind her was a high wall, overgrown with ivy, finished with barbed wire at the top. The wall was covered with yellow-black boards with all kinds of "Warning" inscriptions. They were in an area that seemed to be a big car park, full of rusty, damaged cars. "Where are we?"

Heero eventually evened his breath, then opened his eyes. He gradually started to get up, immobilizing his shoulder with a firm grip. "Behind that wall, there's an abandoned buffer zone," he answered, his voice hoarse. "Right after the outbreak, the government formed these types of places to _filter_ people; pick up those who are already infected and eliminate them before they could be granted access to the inside of the quarantine zone."

Relena realized that she had heard about this kind of place, but having spent her whole life in a zone, she didn't remember seeing any buffer zones before. Then she suddenly realized how cold the night is. Her muscles, shrunk from the inhuman effort they had been subjected to a few hours ago, finally relaxed, and her body was losing heat quickly.

"It's cold," she breathed, tightening her jacket on her chest and pulling her knees up to her neck. "Why can't we burn up a fire?"

"There's still a pursuit after us," Heero answered while he searched for something inside his backpack with his capable hand. His face was grimaced with pain. "We'd be perfectly visible."

Relena sighed with annoyance and then looked down to notice the fatal state of her injured legs.

"Here," she heard Heero's voice as he kicked a bottle in her direction. "You should disinfect these wounds, or you will get an infection."

She caught the rolling bottle with one hand. It was a bottle of alcohol, half of the life-saving liquid already gone. In this world, nobody thought of alcohol as a drug anymore. "Thanks," she muttered, then opened it and quickly rinsed across her knees. Thankfully, it didn't hurt her much.

When she closed the bottle, she gazed in the distance. The lights of the burning Grand Point Bridge were still perfectly visible, as there was no fire brigade to stamp the fire out. It marked the spot where Duo exploded himself. Or where he saved them. Looking at it, Relena felt a pressure in her throat and closed her eyes, picturing Duo's grinning face before her.

"We've got to talk."

Heero's serious voice suddenly came into her conscience. He wasn't looking at her, his gaze fixed somewhere on the ground in front of him. "If I am to go with you anywhere further," he muttered, his left hand still wrapped tightly around his right shoulder, "you have to tell me why _exactly_ you need to get to Houston."

Relena stiffened, straightening herself up. _Can I trust him?_ He was a complete stranger. Although Duo accepted Heero from the beginning, she didn't feel comfortable in his presence. Heero waited patiently, now frowning at her with his penetrating Prussian blue eyes.

"I know about the laboratories," he added, observing her. Relena's eyes wondered somewhere behind him, where she noticed Duo's backpack lying on the ground. She crawled to reach it, then opened it with trembling hands, almost ignoring Heero's words. "Is it because of these laboratories that you want to get to Houston?" she heard Heero's voice from behind her back as she rifled through the backpack. "' Cause I don't intend to risk my life if you want to make yourself a trip throughout the States only because of some personal motives-"

"It's not personal _at all_. I don't need you to go with me," Relena broke in. She picked one of Duo's guns in her hand and checked the clip of the gun. "I will be all right on my own."

She could hear Heero's irritated grunt. "Wish I heard that _before_ the last entrance to the city was blown off by your hippie friend."

Relena gritted her teeth. "Shut up," she muttered in a low voice. She took a look at the magazine, letting out a breath. "I owe him my life. Besides, what are you so interested in? When you smuggle something, you ask your clients why they need something to be smuggled?"

"When I get paid, I don't ask questions. You're smart enough to notice that I already discovered your bluff about money."

Feeling her irritation reaching its zenith, Relena clicked the magazine back into the gun with maybe too much force. "Then why won't you just leave me alone-" she asked him, a slight panic in her voice, as she abruptly turned around.

"Enough of this fucking bullshit."

She didn't hear when Heero got his gun out, but he was already aiming at her. Although he held the gun in his left hand, his aim was motionless and rigid. There was no doubt that his bullet would find its target.

"Stop acting like a bratty teenager at least for a minute," he commanded, his steely blue eyes now fixed on her with a predatory, murderous gaze. She felt as if she had grown into the ground, unable to move under that look. "I can leave you here, and you won't survive the night. If you want it, go ahead." Relena swallowed, trying hard to not show her fear. Something in this man's wild look told her that he was wondering why he hadn't left her already. "If you want me to get you to Houston, let me settle three things clear. First, let go of this gun."

Relena swallowed, desperately trying to mask a defeat in her eyes by returning the same angry look. But she discarded the weapon on the ground.

"Second," Heero continued. He didn't lower his own gun off her even for an inch. "I don't give a shit if you like me or not. But if you will treat me as your enemy, I will regard you as my enemy."

She didn't interrupt him, trying to understand the unexpected feeling of her body relaxing for the first time that night, though that brown-haired boy still aimed at her. Hearing his words, she felt an inexplicable relief, despite being on the line of his shot. _He doesn't think of me as an enemy_. She maintained eye contact, holding his powerful stare.

"Third. If you want to reach Houston _alive_, then starting off today, you follow me and do what I say." He allowed his words to sink at the moment. "All clear?"

Relena nodded slightly in reply. Heero eventually lowered his gun off her and slumped against a wall with a slight groan, gripping his shoulder again. At that moment, in the faint light of the moon, Relena noticed the trickle of sweat on his temple.

"Are you ok…?" she breathed, with an unexpected level of anxiety in her voice. "Do you need help?"

Heero shook his head, furrowing his eyebrows. He still gripped his shoulder, his right hand lying motionlessly on the floor. "I'm fine."

"No, you're clearly not. We need to immobilize your shoulder." Saying that she rifled through Duo's backpack once more, finding some clean clothes. She tore them apart in long stripes, then approached Heero. He looked up at her, suspiciously, like a wild animal, as she kneeled by his side.

"It's all right," she comforted him. "I will wrap a bandage around your shoulder and torso," she explained, reaching her hand to him. "During the night and when it's safe, you should also carry your arm in a sling. I'll help you."

She noticed a slight surprise in his eyes as she placed her hand on his left one and slowly, gradually released his arm from his grip. She helped him to get off his jacket, leaving his shirt on as it was too difficult to get it off without moving his shoulder too much. His shoulder wasn't only dislocated; in the spot where his body hit the ground, his skin was worn and slightly bleeding. She cleared his wound; he didn't even stir. He didn't say anything either, although she could sense his gaze on her. This awareness sent disturbing, small shivers down her neck.

"You don't have to do this," she heard him saying when she touched the skin of his collarbone while wrapping the cloth tightly over his torso.

"I know," she answered shortly.

The two of them were now on their own. Relena realized that. He was her only chance to get to Houston alive. She had to trust him. She remembered the short chat she had with Duo last night when they stayed in that warehouse in the Navy Port. _"Don't be afraid of him," _Duo said to her as he sat by the fire that night._ "He won't do us any harm. But he's the lonely wolf. We shouldn't expect great support from him either."_

"I need to get to Houston…" she started unexpectedly, quietly, continuing on wrapping the cloth around his chest, her hands trembling slightly, "…because of the vaccine."

"There's _no_ vaccine," Heero corrected her with a calm, but confident voice, as if he was telling her that the earth was flat. Relena looked up at him, trying to read his thoughts, but his eyes were cold and unreadable. She could see no hostility in them either. He just gazed at her, expectantly, waiting for her to agree with him.

"_There is_," she whispered after a moment of silence. "…and I _have_ it with me. I need to get it to Houston."

The silence that fell between them after these words seemed louder than the explosion they had survived earlier that day. Her heart was beating so fast and loud that she was sure Heero could hear it. She did it: she revealed her secret. He could eliminate her now, take the vaccine, and end her mission before it began. Heero looked at her absently, his eyes glistening in the moonlight with a restless, strange glow. He sat completely still, only his even breathing reminded her that he was still with her. The look in his eyes didn't frighten her or disturb her. She couldn't guess the thoughts lurking behind those eyes, but surprisingly she wasn't afraid of him. She bowed her head, folding her fingers in her lap.

"My whole family is supposed to be dead by now," she started again. "But our ideal was alive for years after the outbreak. My father was trying everything to find a cure for this virus. In hiding. Not everybody wished for the cure. The people… the world isn't the same anymore…"

She looked up at him again. He had to understand what she meant. A world after the outbreak, in which only jungle law ruled, was a world in which those who wanted to change this law were considered prey.

"When I heard about these laboratories, I understood that it had to be someone from the Peacecraft's family behind all that. I'm not… entirely sure who it is, but I need to get there and pass them the prototype of the vaccine my father invented. I had to keep it secret for years because I couldn't multiplicate it… But maybe now, thanks to that prototype and the laboratory, we can create the cure for masses…"

She understood she didn't have anything to tell him more. "This is it," she concluded. "Now, you know everything."

Heero finally looked away from her, gazing into space in front of him. After a moment, he clenched his fist and put his jacket on his shoulders with a quiet grunt.

"Heero?" Relena whispered with a pleading in her voice when he suddenly stood up and walked away from her a few steps. She felt panic ripple through her chest, she pulled back. He didn't believe her? Would he hurt her now?

He stood there for a mere moment, his arm immobilized, looking at the moon. "Then go to sleep," he eventually said. "It's a long way to Houston. We're leaving tomorrow at dawn."

Relena gasped quietly with relief as she felt hope sprouting in her chest. He didn't ask her anything. He just agreed to go with her. Suddenly, Heero turned to face her, the look on his face a mixture of reproach and long-standing grief. There was a story behind these eyes, but she couldn't read it just yet.

* * *

TBC

The whole story is divided into two POVs - Heero's and Relena's. Now I introduced Relena's POV, but in the future chapter we're coming back to Heero's.

Hope you like this chapter. If you do, leave feedback!


	6. Chapter 6 - The Outskirts

Chapter 6 - The Outskirts

_Heero POV_

_April_

Heero opened his eyes slowly, blinded by the stubborn rays of the rising sun that fell on his face. Before he moved even for an inch, he listened. He was alert to his surroundings, trying to catch anything unusual. Then he squeezed the fingers of his right hand, finding the resistance of his gun grip, and slowly, quietly sat down.

Relena was still sleeping, lying on her side with her back to him, her backpack tucked under her head. Her legs were bent, drown up a little to her chest, her jacket wrapped around her shoulders. They both slept on the floor, on the opposite sides of their hideout; Relena in the darker corner, that wasn't enlightened by morning light yet. Heero observed for a moment her chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm of her breathing, then slowly got up, feeling his muscles stretching slowly from the night's stiffness. He quietly opened the door outside and got out.

The day that welcomed him was sunny and bright, with the cloudless sky and air scented from the morning dampness. He could hear birds singing up in the trees that surrounded them. They spent the night inside an old, deserted truck on the side of one of the access roads leading to Baltimore, in an area full of once tidy ground-floor houses with big gardens. Heero scanned the surroundings for any sign of danger but didn't spot or hear anything. He walked around the semi-trailer and over to the bushes, where he came to a stop to answer the call of nature.

Already a week passed since the two of them left the city of Philadelphia. They were traveling on foot, making frequent stops whenever it was safe. They avoided towns and highways, choosing dirt tracks and smaller roads instead. Despite the initial clashes, they passed these days in relative peace. Each day Relena helped Heero with his dressings over his relocated shoulder, and he didn't protest. They didn't talk much, which actually suited him very well. He didn't see any need to ask Relena further questions about the vaccine and how it got invented, because it could have resulted in her asking about _himself_. And he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't actually need to see that vaccine, either. He saw no need to discuss this matter over. The silence allowed him to concentrate on survival and on reaching the goddamned city of Houston in one piece.

It also prevented him from asking himself one and the same question over and over again - _why_ the hell did he actually agree to go on this crazy trip with this girl in the first place. He didn't have anything dear nor personal to save but his life. Did he care for mankind's fate? Probably not. Was it his promise to Duo? Neither; he had broken many promises already in his life.

Having settled his need, he fastened his pants and went back to the truck. He discovered that the door was open again, and Relena was sitting on the stairs leading to the semi-trailer, rubbing her eyes. When she noticed him, her lips widened in a yawn.

"Good morning," she greeted him in a half-yawn.

"Hn," Heero grunted, then approached the stairs where she was sitting, slowly climbing up inside the truck. "Scoot."

Reluctantly, Relena moved to the side on the narrow steps letting him pass, then slipped her head inside the truck, watching him. "How far it is to Baltimore?"

Heero rummaged through his backpack, pulling out two apples, one of which he gave to Relena. "We could get there tonight, but we won't." Relena looked at him with surprised eyes. "I want to avoid getting into the center," Heero explained, sitting in the corner and biting his apple. "And you better sit inside. You should be visible only when we're on the move. Somebody can spot you and shoot you before you realize."

"I know," Relena replied with a bored voice, rubbing the fruit in her hands. She looked around the blooming park that surrounded them, visibly fascinated. "But it's so beautiful and peaceful here. What day could it be? I mean, what mouth? I kinda lost count."

Heero frowned then thought for a second. "April has only just begun."

"Really? So, maybe today is a day of my birthday," Relena said merrily. "I was born on the seventh of April."

In his world, what mattered was only the present. The past was a burden, and the future was unsure. The calendar wasn't much use in survival. Sufficient were the knowledge of the seasons and enough memory to count days from one event to another; or count days of somebody's _absence_. Heero realized that he stopped counting months and years long ago; due to their repetition, they now merged into one.

"I know that April has as many as thirty days," Relena continued, "but what if I won't be able to survive to live through the next day? Maybe this morning is my last one? In this case, I would like to make this beautiful day like today, the day of my birthday."

She turned her head, staring at him expectantly. He realized that while listening to her, he was still gnawing his very first bite of an apple.

"And you? When were you born?"

He sighed with annoyance. "What you're saying is childish. Who cares about anyone's birthdays anymore?"

"I do," he heard her answer. Confident and straightforward. "I would like to know, Heero."

"You're like Duo," Heero took another bite of his apple. "He asked similar, useless questions. What are _you_ doing it for?"

Relena shrugged in reply, giving him an innocent, small smile. A pleasantly warm one that illuminated her silhouette on the peaceful background of the forest behind her back. Then she turned her head away from him, concentrating on her breakfast. Seeing her smile to him for the first time since they met, Heero felt his another unanswered question hung between him and this strange girl. Although he asked this question casually, for this moment, he suddenly wanted to know the answer.

A couple of minutes later, they were ready to leave their hideout. As usual, Heero walked first, Relena a few steps behind him. Every few tens of meters, he looked back, verifying that she still had the strength to follow him. He noticed a change in her behavior. Relena definitely seemed more distracted today.

About an hour later, they passed the entrance to the city by state road number 1 and headed further north. In the distance, they could see the outline of the skyscrapers of the abandoned city. After another two hours of march, the landscape around them changed. They entered an area of terraced houses. Heero turned into a nearby street, taking out his rifle.

"We should look for supplies," he grunted, taking a look back. "You stay close to me. And be quiet. This area may not be as deserted as it looks."

Relena nodded, then ran up to him. Heero unlocked his rifle and headed for the first house in the street. The wide mahogany door was locked only for a handle. Behind it, they were greeted with a mess in the hallway. There were broken suitcases on the ground, flipped through by someone in a hurry. Indeed, their owners didn't manage to take them on the outbreak day. Heero stood in the door, scanning the space in front of him, then, holding the weapon in front of him, slowly crossed the threshold and bypassed the suitcases, heading deeper into the apartment. He could hear Relena's quiet footsteps behind him.

Entrances from the corridor led to the kitchen, living room, and bathroom, which were empty. Around the corner, the hall was hiding stairs. A passage on the stairs was blocked by a small secretary.

"Wait here," Heero quietly instructed Relena, then he climbed the secretary with a jump.

"Heero!" he heard Relena's worried voice behind him.

"Stay. It's safe here. I'll be right back."

"Be careful... Please."

He leaped over the secretary and looked up. The stairs were turning around the corner and led to the only floor. They were old, their wooden structure creaked loudly under every step. Heero stepped back against the wall, climbing the stairs by staying as close as possible to the edge, his back rubbing against the wall.

On the first floor, the corridor led to two rooms and a bathroom. It was in a much worse condition than the ground level due to the leaky roof. Water that had drained down for years made holes in the wooden floor, which now squeaked louder than the stairs. Trying to make only as many steps as necessary, Heero quickly took a peek into the bathroom, and a small room then crept closer to the last one.

Even before he opened the door, the sound of an intermittent moan confirmed his suspicion that someone was still _living_ in the house. He slowly opened the door and peered inside. The Runner stood in the middle of something that resembled a kid's room. He was standing with his back to him, his body bent in half, trembling at repeated convulsions. Judging by his height and clothes, at the time of transformation, he was a teenage boy...

Heero lowered his rifle and quietly set it down on the floor next to him, deciding no to waste ammo on one Runner. He bent down and gradually, silently crept into the Runner on bent knees. He evened his breath and pulse, concentrating on trying to be completely soundless. The Runner didn't notice him.

When he was close enough, he shot his arm up, wrapping it tightly around Runner's neck and pulled him against himself, leveraging his grip on his other elbow. The boy made a loud, choking shriek and violently swung his arms and legs around, trying to free himself from Heero's grip. Heero gritted his teeth and tightened his strangling grip, holding the Runner closer to him. He could feel Runner's hands clenching in his hair and his jaw aggressively and futilely trying to bite him. Eventually, his movements weakened until all limbs fell to the floor, and a last, low grunt escaped his lungs.

Heero didn't lose his grip for another minute or so, continuing this weird embrace. Then he let the limped body slide from his arms to the floor with a low thud. He got up and returned downstairs to Relena. She was standing in the exact same spot where he'd left her, her both hands on the gun.

"My God, Heero," she sighed with evident relief when she saw him walking down the stairs. "What the hell happened up there? Are you all right? I heard…"

Heero brushed his hair off his eyes as he jumped over the secretary again. "There was a Runner there," he explained nonchalantly, empathizing the past tense slightly. "Let's search the house. See if you can find something we could use."

* * *

TBC

This chapter was a little, calm slowdown before developing the action in the following chapters. Stay tuned for future episodes and tell me what do you think so far about the story in the comments.


	7. Chapter 7 - The City

Chapter 7 - The City

An hour or so later, Heero and Relena searched another three houses on the same street, happily without encountering any more infected. They found a few useful items, some ammunition, a couple of blades, bandages, even some food. It was all better than nothing.

"Where did you learn all this?" Relena asked as they were taking a little break sitting in the neglected yard of one of the houses. She packed their stuff in her backpack and zipped it. "I mean, surviving."

Hearing her question, Heero didn't take his eyes off his rifle, attaching to it a stronger leather strap that found in one of the estates. When he felt Relena's expectant frown on himself, he decided to give her the short answer hoping it would end the topic. "My foster father taught me."

Unfortunately for him, it didn't end the topic. Quite the opposite. "Oh? Who was he? Is he still alive?" there went another question. Apparently, answering seemed like battling the Hydra.

Heero tightened the strap of the belt on his rifle until it came to a stop, then stood up, throwing the weapon over his shoulder. "Come on," he snapped, passing Relena by. "We still have a ground to cover before the night falls."

"You're very mysterious, Heero," he heard Relena's voice behind him, sounding a bit exasperated. "I wish I knew you better. After all, we must cross almost half of the continent together."

"There is no need for that," he replied. He stared at the space in front of him, still avoiding Relena's gaze, but although he couldn't see it, he sensed it. And it was _nagging_. "Better focus on surviving. You don't realize how many various dangers are waiting for you. If you allow yourself to be distracted, you'll die."

Relena was silent for a moment. "But you got the wrong idea," she continued, though he was still standing with his back to her. He could hear her taking a step in his direction. "It's not about whether I need to know you, Heero. I _want_ to. I want to know something about the man who agreed to lead me so far. I guess that isn't strange, right?"

Heero stared at the dried grass under his feet, trying to think of an answer that would keep her at a distance. Various words came to his mind, tested on others and failproof, including several that could hurt, offend, or scare her. However, for some inexplicable reason, he _didn't want_ to say these words to her. Her behavior, her persistent will to know him, was annoying. It was thoroughly bothersome. Just. He felt wrong mistreating her just for that, just because she treated him like nobody did for so long. That girl with honey-colored hair and oceanic eyes was gradually smuggling into his gray life flashes of _normality_, that he thought had died along on the day of the outbreak of the epidemy.

"I'm nobody special, Relena," he finally muttered, not turning to face her. In conformity to what he actually felt. "Nobody worth talking about."

"But why actually did you agree to help me?" he heard the question right when he wanted to take a step forward, excluding himself from further conversation. "The truth is, I didn't expect you to go with me. You're risking your life. Why did you agree?"

That was the one question that had no right answer for - at least that's how he wanted to explain himself.

"Because… maybe," he said after a moment, "you and your vaccine are the only hope that someday everything will return to normal. And that we will retrieve the world that had been stolen from us."

To his relief, she finally fell silent. He wondered if she understood that by saying "we" he meant to say "me", precisely. Because Relena somehow managed to keep and cherish a part of that stolen world in her. In contrary to him.

x x x

They had been crossing the brick labyrinth of Baltimore's buildings for the third hour already. As they passed through Bolton Hill, the sun began to set. Just as Heero had planned, they bypassed the city center, navigating the smaller streets and avoiding the major thoroughfares.

The city seemed too quiet. The quarantine zone didn't exist anymore - the only thing left as its trace were kilometers of high fence, hung with lots of information boards. But the people were no longer in the city. Here and there, they heard the sounds of the infected, locked in homes, shops, or garages. As long as they moved noiselessly, they managed to pass through unnoticed.

One thing was unusual in this city, and Heero quickly picked it up. There were _corpses_ on the streets. Relatively fresh. Not torn apart by the infected, but with gunshot wounds. There were not many of them, they piled up only on the widest streets. Some had traces of tire treads. Heero had a premonition of what, or rather _who_ could cause their deaths. He didn't like it. He didn't share any part of his concern with Relena. They hardly speak during that time. Only every once in a while, he would point her something or warned her about an obstacle; few times during their shortstops, Relena glanced at him expectantly as if she wanted to continue their conversation from the morning. He wasn't sure what she expected of him, so he found it most convenient not to think about it, focusing on the passage of subsequent city districts.

When the sun was setting behind the silhouettes of buildings and the wind roared in the alleys announcing the arrival of the night, Heero decided to look for a place to stay the night. Before the blushing, sunny globe completely disappeared over the horizon, he found a suitable location. It was the most ordinary of the possible houses, standing in an even row along the unremarkable street. Its antique door had the possibility of closing with a latch from the inside, which was convenient and possibly life-saving. After making a thorough check on the house, Heero held the heavy door open for Relena, and when she came in, he closed it with a latch, making as little noise as possible.

The night fell very quickly. Soon the interior of the house sank into the darkness. Like most buildings, this one also had broken windows. Heero used the flashlight as rarely as possible, to prevent letting anybody know that they were inside. Relena entered the living room on the ground floor, looking around with uncertainty. Dried lining rustled under her feet, and broken glass clattered. Heero followed her, slowly pulling his backpack and shotgun off his aching arms. He gave one final look at the room, ensuring that it was safe. The room was a complete mess; there was one sofa in the room, one knocked closet over the window and a broken TV.

"Rest," he suggested quietly, darkening the light of his flashlight by covering the bulb with his hand. "You need strength. If everything goes as smoothly as today, we'll leave the city tomorrow."

He didn't wait for any of her answers and turned his steps together with the bland light of his flashlight toward the room on the opposite side of the narrow hallway. It was a study; a wide armchair laid overturned against the wall just next to the door, thankfully still dry and not damp. Heero put the flashlight on its tip on the ground and raised the furniture up, then dropped the backpack next to him and slumped in the armchair, letting out a fatigued groan. He rubbed his eyelids, feeling them burning under his fingers. All these years, whenever he was out of the zone, he never allowed himself to leave his guard for a long time. Reaching the safe hideout at night was never a reason to reduce vigilance. The world was dangerous. He could only afford a short rest, like now, when he tried to force himself to rest for several hours, during which he was still on standby. Ready to act in any situation.

"Heero?"

Relena's soft voice surprised him. He looked up at her, his eyes aching, blinking quickly to regain visual acuity. She stood at the threshold of the door to her room, covering the flashlight with her hand, just like he instructed her, and looked at him with worried eyes. "I know it sounds weird, but... couldn't we sleep in one room?"

Heero raised his eyebrows but didn't move. "What happened?"

The girl clenched both hands on the flashlight, hugging it to her chest. "We have never slept in separate rooms so far. I just feel... insecure."

"Don't be afraid," Heero picked up his rifle and rested it, as usual, on his shoulder and between his legs. "I can see the entrance to your room from here, and the door to the house is locked. Try to sleep."

Relena's gaze, though dimly visible in the light of the flashlight, seemed full of uncertainty. For a moment, he was sure she would protest. "Well then," she finally replied, her voice audibly hesitant, slowly turning to her room. "Goodnight, Heero."

He followed her with his gaze until her figure disappeared into the darkness of the room on the other side. After a moment, he turned off the flashlight, letting his eyes get used to the dark and crossed his arms over his chest. Soon he fell into a shallow sleep.

x x x

_The infected's face exploded inches from his own. He didn't have time to cover himself, and he felt the hot liquid splash on his chest. The headless body landed just at his feet. The bang of the weapon almost deafened him. All he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears. _

_His body felt limp, his eyes still fixed on the dead woman's body lying a few meters in front of him. She told him to run. But how? Where? He can't leave her… He doesn't want to…_

_Then somebody grabbed him by his coat up and dragged back. He finally regained his hearing again as a tall man in a trench coat was shaking him by his arms. "Hey! Boy, get yourself together!" _

_He looked up at the unfamiliar man as he straightened himself up abruptly, aimed, and fired its big shotgun at something. Then the man looked down on him again. "You can't stay here!" the man murmured, wrapping his arm around his belly and pulling him off the ground. After a few seconds, the man threw him inside some car, squeezing him under the steering wheel. _

"_Stay here until it's all quiet. Close yourself from the inside. I will be back for you. I promise."_

_Then the door closed with a loud thud. The boy obediently raised a hand up enough to click the lock-up, just like the man said. The place was narrow and dark. He could sense the smell of blood on his clothes. The interior of the vehicle was illuminated by the blinking light of fire raging in the buildings around. From the outside, he could hear the drowned screams of hundreds of people fleeing in various directions, the sounds of gunshots and explosions, ambulance signals... and above all, this frightening howling... of those things... that ate her alive. He covered his ears._

"_Mommy," he whispered, but he didn't cry. "Mommy…"_

x x x

What torn him from his nightmare was a strange and unexpected sound; a mixture of rustle and silent _giggle_, coming from Relena's room. He quickly got up from his armchair, stretching his neck and arms, then approached the living room. The room was already filled with the warm light of the rising sun. Relena was sitting by the window on a wooden closet and held a furry ball on her lap.

"Relena?" Heero called her name. Hearing his voice, two pairs of eyes glanced at him: oceanic blue and yellow eyes of a cat.

"Heero, look who came by to say hello," Relena smiled and petted the striped, moggy cat. The animal purred friendly and licked her hand, making the girl squirm and giggle at the touch of his rough tongue.

"You shouldn't touch it," Heero made a few steps closer to her, stopping by the sofa, where Relena apparently slept the night. He blinked, blinded a little by the sunlight; Relena's silhouette darkened at the background of an open window. _Something just wasn't right_; he could subconsciously sense it. "You don't know if it has rabies."

"I'm sure she doesn't. She's used to humans."

When those yellow cat eyes stared at Heero one more time, his thoughts started to gallop in his head as he realized something.

_The zone of Baltimore closed at least fifteen years ago. Since then, it was supposed to be a ghost city._

_Then to who this cat could get used to?_

_All these corpses on the streets..._

The last thought rang all alarming bells in his head in the exact same moment when he noticed a shine in the building across the street. Then a curved silhouette of a shooter in its window.

And Relena's head right on his line of shot.

* * *

TBC

Oh yes, the cliffhanger. What tigers like the most.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Up and Down

Chapter 8 - The Up and Down

"GET DOWN!"

Heero darted forward, knocking Relena to the floor, covering her with his own body. The nanosecond later, they heard a loud bang of the gun and a whistle of the bullet flying just above their heads. The shot rebounded in ricochet from the floor and got stuck in the wall on the opposite side of the room. The cat made a loud, terrifying meow and bolted away in an unknown direction.

"Oh, God!" Relena gasped, "Heero!"

"Quiet," he ordered, grasping her by her arms and unceremoniously shoving her across the floor to the wall under the window, trying to stay as low as possible. When they reached there, he propped the girl to a sitting position, leaning on the wall, and faced her.

"Listen to me. We have to get out of this house." His voice was calm but confident, yet it didn't soothe the panic and fear in her blue eyes, as the second shot was fired in the direction of their hideout. They could hear the voices of several men on the streets.

Heero grasped Relena's shoulder and pressed her whole body even harder against the wall. "No matter what happens, you stay close to me and keep your head down. If I run, you run too, the fastest you can. Understood?"

Another bullet cut the air around them, hitting the floor inches from Heero's leg. The sound made Relena jump. She let out a terrified moan and shut her eyes, clinging to Heero's shoulder. The voices from the street were getting louder. _They_ were approaching so fast.

The hunters. The legendarily brutal survivours, that claimed themselves as the new owners of this territory, and were ready to kill and rob anyone outside their group.

Heero understood that they were running out of time. They had to move.

"Relena, look at me!" Heero shook her and cupped her face with one hand. Still terrified, she finally opened her eyes and frowned at him, giving him her full attention. "I'll get us through it," he whispered, his eyes fixated on her. "Trust me. You have to trust me."

The look in her eyes finally changed, and she nodded. "I trust you."

"Good," he muttered, then let go of her and took his rifle in both hands. "Follow me."

Another series of shots passed over their heads. Heero moved on bent legs towards the corner of the room, to the right of the window frame through which the shots were coming from. He looked back at the girl, signalizing to her to follow him. Relena, uncertain at first, eventually followed him crouching, her head low. Then Heero pushed the sofa away from the wall and crawled through the space between the couch and the wall. Relena followed him. The furniture trembled slightly under the avalanche of bullets aimed at it but was resistant enough to protect them. The sofa was also large enough to partially block the view of the entrance to the hall, allowing them to get out of the room without losing cover.

When they were finally in the corridor, Heero made a quick look around. The doors to the house were still closed, but someone was evidently trying to get inside, scrambling loudly. Heero knew there were also windows in the office where he was sleeping. There was no way out from the other side of the house. They had only one option left for escape.

He got up to his feet and hoisted Relena up. "Go upstairs!" he ordered, then pushed her toward the stairs. Relena ran up the stairs holding onto both handrails. Meanwhile, a series of shots from the room stopped. Heero leaned against the wall and cautiously looked around the corner, noticing the first hunters getting inside the house through the broken window. He loaded his rifle, aimed, and fired two sure shots, taking off both the attackers. Behind him, he heard the sound of broken glass, indicating that the others were getting into the house by the window in the other room.

He ran up the stairs, following Relena. She stood at the end of the corridor, tugging her hands at the attic entrance's ladder protruding from the ceiling. "It's stuck!" she shouted at Heero.

"Leave it, there is no time," Heero growled, running up her, then hung the rifle on his shoulder and knelt, entwining the fingers of both hands right at his knee. "I'll boost you up. Hurry!"

Relena hesitated, then set her foot on his hands, swinging her arms forward. When Heero rose from his lap, lifting her up, he was surprised at how light she seemed. Relena grabbed the handles of the ladder then began to climb up to the attic. Meanwhile, Heero grabbed the ladder with his hands, then pulled his body far up, clenching his teeth when he realized that his recent shoulder injury hasn't yet healed. His view darkened due to a blow of pain.

"Heero!" he heard Relena's voice above him. "Take my hand!"

He looked up and saw her, but she was still too high. He could hear steps on the staircase already. He gritted his teeth and pulled up one more step, then threw his left hand to her. She gripped his hand, giving him enough anchor to drag up through the hole to the attic.

Having climbed through the hole, he rolled across the dust-covered floor, clutching at his shoulder. "Close the entrance!" he groaned, but Relena had already pulled out her pistol and shot twice at the metal handles holding the ladder. The ladder fell down with a loud bang. A moment later, an avalanche of shots fell in through the hole.

_We can't stay here_, he realized the obvious. With a grunt, Heero rolled over and slowly stood up, still holding his shoulder.

"What now?" Relena asked, looking expectantly at him. "What do you want me to do?"

The cannonade of missiles eased for a moment, and the command 'look for something to climb there' was given.

"We have to get to the roof," Heero said, heading for the window. He kicked the window glass with a strong kick. "We will go to neighboring buildings and try to go down."

After a while, they both climbed the roof covered with roofing felt and, overcoming the short distances between the buildings, reached the last house in a row. There they descended to the ground, hopping down first onto the terrace and then onto the roof of a wooden shed. Jumping off the wooden structure, Relena misjudged the distance and fell to her knees on the grass, making a soft grunt. Heero helped her up, then looked her in the eye. "You're doing well so far," he reassured her, "but you still have to run. It's not safe here. Hold on."

He saw that she was breathing heavily, but she gave him the exact same look he saw in the port of Philadelphia. Then she nodded.

They ran out of the yard through a hole in the fence and rushed down the street toward the crossroads, meandering between abandoned cars parked on the streets. There, suddenly and unexpectantly, bullets began to fly over their heads again. Relena covered her ears with her hands and bowed her head, screaming in terror.

"Don't stop running!" Heero ordered her, pulling out his rifle, and giving several shots around. The fire didn't decrease, bullets were flying now from both sides of the street. They needed to find a hideout immediately.

And then, suddenly, Heero noticed a high building with letters 'MALL' written at its front, just above the doors. Something in that building made him feel concerned.

"Heero!" he heard Relena's terrified scream.

They had no choice. If they continue to run like that, on the open field, they'll get shot. _Fuck it!_

"Here!" he turned sharply right toward the building's entrance and the demolished revolving door. He stopped, letting Relena get in and quickly jumped inside behind her. The rain of bullets stopped at the remains of the exhibition space and echoed loudly in the dim hall of the mall they had just run into.

"This way," Heero ordered, turning on his flashlight and pointing down the stairs. Without dropping their speed, they ran down to the lower level of the shopping center, then deep into the gallery, and then even lower. When they got there, and as they proceeded to the garage entrance, almost total darkness fell around. Heero eventually stopped, then looked around, lighting the view with his flashlight. Behind him, he heard Relena sit on the ground, catching her breath.

"Have we lost them?" she asked after a moment.

Heero was still exploring the surroundings. "I think so," he replied in a grave voice, just a little bit breathless. Although they were surrounded by emptiness and silence, he didn't like what he was seeing.

"Isn't it good?"

He turned to Relena, temporarily blinding her with the light of his flashlight. Relena covered her face with her hand. "It's not safe here. But our only chance is to go through the garage. Then we'll probably get out on the other side of the mall."

"Wait," Relena moaned. "Heero, wait a minute..."

"Relena, you have to get up," Heero said, offering her his hand. "We have to move."

The girl's tired face depicted great weariness and anger. She lowered her gaze for a moment, but then slowly rose to her feet, without his help. Heero watched her for a moment, then straightened up and reached into Relena's side pocket, pulling out her flashlight. He flashed it on and slipped it into her hand. "Do you remember where you keep the mask?" Relena nodded, then reached over her shoulder and showed him the mask, attached to her backpack. "In places like that, we can encounter spores. If we spot them, you have to put your mask on quickly. Immediately."

"I know," she muttered, avoiding his eyes. "You lead the way."

Heero nodded, then turned on his heel and walked toward one of the dark corridors. Some boards indicating access to elevators or toilets still hung sadly above the halls. Beneath their feet crashed the glass from the broken window panes, here and there scared rats were running in various directions. There was constant silence all around, interrupted only by the rhythmic sound of dripping water from the leaking roof and the façades above them.

Though there was no indication of any danger, Heero felt all his senses strengthen in the dark. Subconsciously, he sensed that such places just by their nature couldn't be safe. But they had no other choice - armed hunters waited on the surface behind them. Heero hoped that they didn't know about any other passage through the empty mall. Going through the garages to the other side was their only chance.

They walked in silence until he heard Relena's hushed voice behind him. "Are you sure you know where you're going?"

"Partly," Heero replied according to the truth, without turning to face her. "I hope the corridor is passable."

"When the epidemic broke out," Relena suddenly said, "I remember I was in a mall like this one. We lived in Washington at that time. My father and I were finishing Christmas shopping." She paused for a moment. "But we never came home again. We barely got out of the mall when the first infected people were running in the streets. Panic broke out."

Heero listened to her silently, still concentrating on the sharp light of his flashlight illuminating the Egyptian darkness in front of them. He noticed that the environment changed. They were passing open doors to store magazines on the sides of the corridor. Empty cardboard boxes and a lot of rubbish were lying everywhere. Some of the entries were bolted, with military markings informing about the infected lurking behind the door. Plastic plates, which were lined with suspended ceiling, fell here and there, cables hung from the ceiling and water dripping.

"Our bodyguard saved us," Relena continued. Heero started to wonder why exactly was she telling him all this. He thought that maybe talking made her feel braver while she had to follow him through this hellish corridor. "He somehow led us through the crowd and put us in the car. He alone stayed, I think those creatures killed him. Still, we were unable to get home. To this day, I don't know what happened to my mother and my brother, Milliardo..."

Suddenly they both heard a shrill, strangled moan in the corridor. Heero stopped and unlocked his gun, directing the light of his flashlight straight into the darkness. Relena gasped quietly and walked closer to him, also taking out her weapon.

"…what was that?" she asked, her voice trembling. "Infected?"

Heero raised his hand up, silencing her without taking his eyes from the darkness and began to go further along the corridor.

"Heero, wait," he felt her hand gripping his jacket and stopping him. "Don't make us go there..."

"Shut up and walk," he muttered curtly, "there is no other way."

Relena fell silent, and Heero felt her hand let go of his jacket. Soon she moved so close to him that Heero could feel her arms rub against his back with every step. Meanwhile, the moan grew louder and louder until it began to resemble a human voice.

"Heee... heeelp..."

"Did you hear?" Relena breathed, her voice unbelieving. Heero didn't answer, still looking for anything at the refraction of his flashlight.

Finally, he noticed a movement and then the shape of the human face and body. A man laid on the ground, facing them, frowning at them with big, terrified eyes. He raised his hand slightly above the ground, waving at them. "Thank God... please help..." he moaned.

"Jesus-" Heero heard Relena's voice behind him, then the girl passed him by and knelt by the wounded man. "What happened to you?"

"I can't feel... my legs..." the man moaned. He apparently couldn't raise his head high enough to look at Heero, who was now standing just above him. The man tilted his head to the side and looked at Relena instead. "Please... don't leave me here..."

Heero circled the lying man with distrust, illuminating him with his flashlight. The man had a blood-bleeding hole at the spot of the lumbar spine. He certainly had a broken spinal cord. "Were you here alone?" Heero asked.

The man was spitting blood. "We entered the city... hunters attacked us... only I escaped..."

"Don't talk anymore," Relena whispered, reaching for her backpack. "We won't leave you here. You'll get out of it. Heero, I need you to help me-"

"Stand back, Relena."

The girl's head snapped up at those authoritative words, her gaze visibly surprised, but Heero didn't look at her anymore. He positioned himself centrally above the wounded man's head, aiming at him with his gun.

"I'm begging you... help-" the man whined before Heero pulled the trigger.

* * *

TBC

Please feel free to share with me what do you think so far.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Breathless x

**Chapter 9 - The Breathless**

_Relena POV_

The bang of the gunshot was so loud that it echoed several times across the corridors of an empty shopping mall. When a bullet was fired, Relena instinctively jumped back, realizing what had just happened. Heero was standing with his gun aimed at the now motionless head of the poor man. A pool of blood was expanding in every direction beneath the man's head. Relena's chest filled with terror. And anger.

"Why?" she mumbled after a moment of silence, keeping her gaze on those steely eyes that were now staring at her from above the beam of the flashlight. "Why did you do this? He was wounded..."

"He had no chance," Heero replied, lowering the gun to his side. "He couldn't even walk. I relieved him of his pain."

"You _killed_ him!"

"I did," the man with Prussian-blue, icy eyes answered confidently and calmly. "He would have given up the ghost anyway, but after hours of agony. Alone in the darkness."

"And what gives you the right to decide over his life?" Relena asked, feeling her voice tremble. "What the fuck is wrong with you?! Do you consider yourself a God?!"

She saw the shadow of an ironic, a bit devilish smirk on his face that scared her even more. "Now _that_ was an insult," he replied huskily, then turned away from her. "Get up, we need to go."

She suddenly didn't trust him anymore. She stood up on her shaky legs but refused to move. "I'm not going with you any further. You're a _murderer_, Heero."

Hearing those accusatory words, he turned to face her. His previously still and icy eyes suddenly darkened until they almost appeared black like the darkness behind his back. That second she got terrified of him; of this unrestrained anger, that was visualizing in his eyes. He was looking at her as if he was about to kill her too.

He swiftly crossed over the dead man's body and stopped inches from her. She fought with her whole conscience to not take a step back. "You don't know me," he hissed, emphasizing every word, still frowning at her with his predatory look. "What gives you the right to pass such judgment on me, Relena Peacecraft?"

She gritted her teeth and looked up, bravely enduring his intense gaze. "You didn't have to do this!"

He stepped even closer to her. "I didn't want to kill so many people, Relena. But circumstances forced me to do it. We live in such a world. And you know _precisely_ what I'm saying."

"What…?" she asked, surprised.

"_You_ would have shot me that day too, wouldn't you?"

Before she thought through her answer, they both froze as they heard the hellish sound of the pounding pair of feet, that was getting nearer and nearer from the dark corridor. _Something_ was running straight toward them, perhaps tempted by the blood of the unfortunate man, possibly drawn by the roar of a gunshot.

And it was producing a very characteristic sound of _clicking_.

Before Relena could even make a sigh, Heero unceremoniously grabbed her and pinned her against the wall behind her. Her back hit the wall with a dull thud. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and plugged her mouth with his hand. He clung her to the wall so tightly that Relena was sure he would crush her. She tried to escape, but she was completely immobilized by the solid frame of his body. Nor she could let out any sound.

"Shhh," she heard Heero's quiet whisper just above her ear.

Her face was hidden in the crook of his shoulder, and he rested his chin on her temple. Their flashlights got stuck between their bodies, no longer giving the sharp light as before. Then, in the dimness, just above the solid contour of Heero's shoulder, Relena saw _that_. She had seen a Clicker before, but never _this close_. The monster, because it was difficult to see anything human in it, ran into the corridor, stopping abruptly at the same spot where she was standing a few seconds ago and let out a torturous, loud moan. It threw his gruesome, eyeless head sideways, continuing to produce a clicking sound like a bat, tracking where the reflected sound would come from. There was no doubt that it would attack the moment it would spot the slightest noise. Saliva dripped from its half-open jaws, and his body was shaking with terrible vibration every now and then, which almost knocked him off his feet.

Relena froze, feeling terror taking her breath away. Her heart was beating so fast that her chest felt hot, blood drained from her legs and arms. Every cell of her body was forcing her to run away as far as possible from this place. But Heero held her tight and didn't release his grip even for a second. He pressed her against the wall even harder, hugging his face to her temple and protecting her with his body from the Clicker. Somehow his breathing was quiet, and even; Relena felt his hard chest tremble with the rhythmic, steady beat of his heart under her fingers. She felt the blood pulsing under the surface of the skin of his neck and his calloused hands. She felt the manly scent of his skin, a bit of a musky and sweaty. Though a monster was approaching inches beside them, something in the way that man held her assured her that he _will_ get them out of it alive. That he won't let anything happen to her.

In that most frightening moment in her whole life, Relena unexpectedly felt her muscles relax under his touch. She closed her eyes, letting him press her even harder against the wall, making her feel like her body was almost melting in one with his, shielding her from evil. All she could do was repeating in her mind like a mantra: _it will be okay_.

Finally, the Clicker turned on his crooked legs in the opposite direction. The clicking sounds bounced off the corridor walls, but they were getting less and less loud with each passing second. Relena opened her eyes and saw the back of the monster as it walked in the direction where they both came from. Then Relena felt Heero's embrace loosen. As he disentangled himself from her, she suddenly clutched his arms, feeling her legs refuse to obey her.

"Stand," he whispered confidently to her ear and unwrapped her hands from his shoulders. She hesitantly obeyed, as if she was learning to walk again and slumped silently against the wall on shaky legs. Heero turned and bent over to pick something from the floor. In the light of the flashlight, Relena noticed that it was an old brick. He rose again and with one swift motion, threw the brick far away in front of the Clicker. When the brick crashed into the ground with a loud crash, the Clicker made a loud scream and ran toward the sound, moving even further away from them.

When it moved away to a safe distance, Heero grabbed Relena's hand, clutching the flashlight again. Then he pulled her with him towards the dark corridor. She didn't resist anymore.

x x x

They left the passage after a few minutes of quiet march in the dark. They didn't meet anymore infected. The corridor ended with a staircase leading to one of the fire exits on the surface of a large car park at the back of the shopping mall. As soon as Heero opened the door to fresh air, Relena ran right behind him, falling to her knees and catching her breath.

It was dusk already. The evening's air was chilly, the setting sun was painting the sky and everything on Earth with bloody, red color. Hundreds of rotting cars parked chaotically all around the car park cast long, ominous shadows on the ground.

"Oh God," Relena gasped, then sat on her heels and rubbed her face. She couldn't believe what they had just gone through. Her legs were still shaky. She heard Heero's confident footsteps passing her by, and then she noticed his stretched silhouette as he was looking around them, scanning the surroundings for any sign of danger. She was exhausted from the terror she was just put through, but he seemed as if it didn't concern him at all.

Then he sat in front of her on the concrete. "You should eat something," he muttered, rifling through his backpack, and then he got one pack of sunflower's seeds and opened it. "Hold out your hand," he ordered. When she obeyed, he spilled the seeds on the palm of her hand.

Relena lifted her gaze at him and smiled. "Thank you. For everything."

His eyes were emotionless once again, although they seemed red like blood in the light of the setting sun. Relena started picking her seeds. When she emptied her portion, he spilled another handful of seeds for her. They ate in silence. Relena realized that she kept catching herself on staring at him way too often. Especially at his hands and his strong arms. She couldn't put the memory of his firm embrace out of her mind. She felt all-overish with this feeling, especially remembering _what_ she called him seconds before all that. She couldn't understand how it was possible to switch from hatred to fascination in seconds. Maybe she was losing senses?

Then she remembered something important she wanted to say just before the Clicker shown up. Something that now had a completely different overtone because of the fact that Heero saved her life once again.

"Heero," she started. He didn't say anything, but lifted his eyes at her, lazily picking his seeds. "About what you said... that I would shoot you the other day... once when you attacked Duo and then that night when he died..."

He didn't say anything, looking at her expectantly. Relena gritted her teeth and lowered her gaze. "I wouldn't. As dumb as it may sound, the gun was never loaded. I wouldn't have killed you, Heero. Neither I wanted to."

* * *

TBC .heart.


	10. Chapter 10 - The River x

Chapter 10 - The River

It took them three more days to get out of Baltimore safely. They moved slowly, avoiding armed groups of hunters and dark alleys full of infected. The city seemed endless. Relena had a feeling that they were going round and round in the labyrinth of brick houses. They were moving from dusk to dawn, spending days on hiding in random hideouts like drains, garages, warehouses. Relena mostly slept during that time, trying to recover the strength lost during the night, but Heero didn't seem to need sleep at all. He was guarding their hideout when she was falling asleep, and he was the one to wake her up when the dusk came.

They hadn't talked much before, yet now their conversation was limited to the absolutely necessary minimum. For the most part of each night, Relena stared into Heero's broad shoulders as she tried to follow him and keep his march's pace. That wasn't easy. Heero was stopping only when she was far behind him; he turned and waited for her, looking at her with indifferent eyes.

They left the city, entering the forest beyond the Patapsco River. The forest appropriated for itself both banks of the river, slowly pouring in green floods into the abandoned suburbs. Now it was much more challenging to wade through its tracts, but it was far safer than in the city. There was a slighter possibility of encountering infected or hunters in the forests. People, even after the extermination, as well as the infected, still gathered in clusters such as cities.

It was already dawning when they reached the other bank of the river. Heero leaped over the last fragment of the bridge span and offered her his hand. They seemed safe from that moment on.

"We'll rest by the river," Heero announced. That was pretty much everything he spoke to her since they left the city mall after the encounter with the Clicker. He simply communicated her his decisions and didn't wait for any of her reaction.

Relena nodded, feeling the relief flooding her chest. Never mind Heero's odd behavior, they got through another city, and they were still alive. Each day closer to Houston.

They stepped off the bridge and turned into a thicket, moving away from the concrete skeleton. Soon they arrived at a small glade, separated from the rest of the forest with thickets and from the riverside by a strip of bulrush. An ideal place for camping. Relena smiled at her childhood memories.

"We'll stop by here," Heero said, dropping his backpack to the ground and sitting on the ground. Just then, Relena noticed that at some point in their walk through the forest, he had to pick up a few long, thin branches. He rested the longest one on the ground between his legs, then pulled a hunting knife and began to cut the wood.

Relena found herself staring at him only when he raised his still gaze at her, sending her a questioning look. "What are you doing?"

"A bow." Heero bent the stick, so it imitated the shape of the weapon, then ripped the inside of the pocket of his backpack and used the remaining string to form a bowstring.

Relena raised her eyebrow. "Why do you need a bow when you have a gun?"

Heero didn't look up at her. "We need to eat some meat. And that river is certainly full of wild animals," he explained, then tried to draw a newly created bow. When he let go of the bowstring, the whole construction trembled and made a characteristic sound. "Bow is the best weapon for silent hunting," he added, then put the bow off and started to sharpen the remaining sticks that had to be his arrows.

Relena blinked at the skillfulness and speed with which he was crafting his new weapon. _This guy is intriguing_. "Is that what your father taught you too?"

Heero didn't reply or react in any other way, completely ignoring her question. It didn't surprise her either, though she couldn't say that she was getting used to it. Meanwhile, Heero finished sharpening the arrows and then stood up, zipping up his backpack.

"Stay here," he said. "You can gather some dry branches for the campfire. We're covered by rushes, so you're safe." Then he turned toward the trees and left the glade without looking back.

For the first time in over a month, Relena was all alone. She was surprised how much she got disaccustomed to it; the first second after Heero's leave made her feel almost uncomfortable. Ever since Duo was killed, she spent days and nights in the company of this surly, mysterious guy with Prussian-blue eyes. Though they didn't share any physical contact apart from that moment in the corridors of the mall in Baltimore, they were practically inseparable.

Relena sighed quietly, getting on her feet and looking for branches. The memory of _that_ event was still sprouting seed of terror in her heart, along with a surprising lightness in her chest that she couldn't name anyhow. She just felt it, and it made her ponder over herself. Never for too long, though. Because there was always something they were struggling for. Struggling to get on the other side of the building, to the other side of the street, across the band of armed hunters… She was always following him, and so far, he was saving her life every single day.

When Relena collected a stack of branches, the sun was already high in the sky. The day was beautiful and bright. She loved the relaxing, peaceful atmosphere of the glade. She looked over the rushes at the lazily flowing river. Then she wondered when the last time did she take a bath…

She looked around the glade. They were safe. And Heero surely won't be back soon. An idea came to her mind.

Relena took off her shoes and socks and then stepped with her bare feet on the lush green grass. She almost sighed with pleasure. She couldn't remember when she was walking barefoot the last time. This carefreeness disappeared twenty years ago, along with the outbreak. This innocence, with which everyone was usually born, was now denied to everyone. Along with freedom...

She directed her steps towards the rush. Tall plants gently whipped her skin, whirring to the rhythm of light, warm wind heralding the coming summer. In a few steps, her feet touched the water. It was cold but refreshing. Relena needed no further encouragement. She turned back again, but seeing the still empty glade, she took off her clothes.

Staying only in her underwear, she confidently got into the water, plunging up to her neck. The feeling of cold, forest-smelling water enveloping her body was so overwhelming that she dived immediately. She held her breath under the water, cutting herself off from everything. For a moment, she was simply a part of the river, floating with its current. When she emerged, Relena felt her face contort in an involuntary smile. She opened her eyes, enjoying the greenery surrounding her from all sides. For the first time in many months, Relena Peacecraft was genuinely enjoying life.

The current carried her away from the glade, so she began to swim back. Then she decided to swim a bit farther. She noticed a beaver seed situated on both sides of the river. Relena swam in its direction, relishing the pleasant coolness of the water and the sound of birds singing above her head.

Suddenly, she noticed Heero.

She abruptly stopped swimming and submerged over her nose in the water, hiding in a nearby rush, trying to make as little noise as possible. She peered at him through the rush.

Fortunately, although he was always so alert, Heero didn't seem to notice her. He was climbing on the top of the buckled bough over the river, taking small steps, like a cat. He frowned at the water below him, holding his bow and one of the arrows based on the chord in his hands. Although the bough gently creaked under its weight, he didn't lose his balance. He didn't take his eyes off the beaver dam stretching just below him.

Relena watched him in silence. Staring at his smoothy moving, slender body, she unconsciously bit her lower lip. What she actually felt, when she was watching him like that, was _unexpected_.

Finally, Heero froze in his crouched position over the water, then pulled the arrow on the bow. For a moment, which seemed an eternity, he watched his target, correcting the flight path of the shaft by millimeters. When he eventually released the arrow, it flew at a tremendous speed, and the forest reverberated with a painful, animal moan that terrified Relena. There was no doubt that the shot found its target.

Relena felt she had had enough bathing. She dived in a rush, floating with the current of water back to their hiding. As she approached the place, she made sure that Heero had not returned yet and emerged from the river. She quickly rifled through her backpack to get out her jacket, then she put it on. She was still dripping wet, and she didn't want to put all her old clothes just yet. She sprawled her biggest T-shirt on her lap, covering her bottom and her legs. This should work.

A few seconds later, the bushes around the glade rustled, and Heero came back with his trophy in his hand - a beaver. Relena smiled nervously at him, feeling uncomfortable as she was only half-dressed. She _should have_ thought this matter through before she made that jump into the water.

"You did it," she praised him, clutching her hands to her chest. Just how miserable she must have looked like right then, all dripping wet. "Well done."

Heero's cautious, steely eyes were scanning every inch of her skin from the top of her head to her feet, stopping right on her bare thighs that were protruding from under her jacket and shirt. "What…?" Relena asked nervously, squirming and trying to prevent him from staring so resolutely at her. She joined her legs reflexively even tighter.

Heero put down the beaver on the ground and crouched in front of her, so close that he almost breached her private space. Without taking his eyes off her, he pointed his finger at her body, precisely at her right thigh. "You'll have to remove them."

Relena raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Wha-?" she gasped, then she looked sideways at her thighs and moaned in shock and disgust simultaneously. Three shiny black _leeches_ were attached to the side of her right leg, just over her knee. Curving like small snakes, those little monsters sucked her blood, and she didn't even feel it. The view was disgusting. "Oh God!" she moaned, slipping her leg from under her as if she wanted to move the disgusting sight as far from her as possible. "Take them off me!"

As Relena looked up, she thought she saw a glimpse of awkwardness and chafe in his look. She didn't care; she was determined to get these nasty parasites off her body as soon as possible, anyhow. And maybe a spirit of a spoiled high-class only daughter awakened in her. "I _can't_ do this alone," she snapped at him angrily, giving him an ominous look. "Help me, or I will never speak to you again."

Heero looked up at her as if he hesitated. It occurred to her that it was the first time when he wore such a look. Then he walked up to her, sat down cross-legged next to her legs, holding his backpack. He rummaged in it for a moment, then pulled out his second knife and a bottle of alcohol. He rinsed the knife with liquid. The sight of the blade in his hand, so close to her flesh, made her panic, but she swallowed and said nothing, watching his movements closely.

Then Heero looked up, his Prussian-blue orbs meeting hers. "Lie on your side."

Relena nodded hesitantly and leaned backward, laying on the grass on her left side. She couldn't clearly see his actions from this position, and she nervously kept adjusting the shirt which she had wrapped around her hips to cover herself. She had her both legs bent at the knees.

Heero scooted closer to her knees, then gently grabbed the ankle of her right foot and placed her knee on a footing of his own knee. Relena held her breath at his touch, getting goosey and hot simultaneously. Heero grabbed each of the leeches and pulled them off, running with a knife just over her skin. After a short moment, three leeches were thrown back to the river. Relena blinked out of surprise; he did it so gently that she didn't feel the slightest pain.

When she wanted to remove her leg, she felt his hand clasp on her ankle again. "Wait. I have to disinfect it," she heard his firm voice.

"Sorry," she whispered, then laid still, allowing him to do his job. When Heero finished, he lifted her leg up by holding her knee from below and gently leaned it on the other one. Without saying anything, he stood up and walked away from her.

Relena sat down again, looking down at her leg. Only three little wounds marked the place where leeches sucked her blood minutes before. "Thank you, Heero."

"Hn," he grunted. He knelt and began lighting up the fire. Relena tightened her jacket around herself, suddenly realizing that all the clothes on her were already dry.

* * *

To be continued...


	11. Chapter 11 - The Capitol Hill

**Chapter 11 - The Capitol Hill**

_Heero POV_

_May_

"Relena," Heero called her by her name. She tilted her head up at him, but her look was absent and tired. "Look," he pointed a point far away on the horizon, right in front of them.

At the far end of a long, wide road wrapped with high threes on both sides emerged a magnificent view of the white dome. Although after 20 years of neglecting its color wasn't so bright anymore and resembled light gray than ivory, it still looked majestic on the background of the blue sky. It had to be a familiar view for his long-haired female companion who now had a big smile painting on her face.

"Wow," Relena gasped, her face bright of joy. "It's nearly undamaged!"

Heero nodded. "We should now head through the old quarantine zone."

"The quarantine zone?" Relena's voice was unexpectedly surprised. "There was a quarantine zone in Washington?"

Heero lifted his eyebrows. "There was. But there isn't anymore. It ceased to exist about two or three years ago."

"What happened?"

"Nothing in particular. All quarantine zones are bound to follow this fate. Unless somebody stops the spreading of disease."

Suddenly, he heard that Relena wasn't following his footsteps anymore. He turned back; she stood in the middle of the street, gazing around her familial city, seeing it for the first time in years.

"So nobody here survived?" she asked with a defeat in her voice.

Heero took out his binoculars and scoped out at the city in front of them, scanning the surroundings and landmarks. "Actually," he muttered after a while, "at least one person should be still alive and keep his guard here. The funny thing is that he happens to owe me a favor, even if he wants to forget about it."

Relena was silent for a moment. "Knowing you, I guess you won't tell me what you exactly did for him, when or why. But maybe you will enlighten me why do we need to meet with him at all?"

Even if he didn't mind to say something more, hearing her harsh words, he considered himself relieved of this duty. So he skipped the first sentence with a silent nod, giving her a hint that she already answered herself. "We need transportation," he continued, still looking through his binoculars. "A car or anything that runs. He will help us arrange something."

"And how are we supposed to find him? It's such a big city full of infected… he could be anywhere."

"That's the easy part, actually," Heero muttered under his breath, then put off his binoculars. "He picked for himself the best place in town."

"Meaning…?"

Heero tilted his head at the white dome. "You're looking at it."

x x x

The former Washington Quarantine Zone was situated at the foot of the Capitol Hill and stretched out far behind the nearby blocks. From a distance, it looked like a vast, abandoned bazaar. Hundreds of partially torn off tents, broken windows in the buildings, a lot of rusted, chaotically parked cars. And a lot of garbage everywhere, carried by the wind. Newspapers, leaflets, containers, letters… The zone was surrounded by a concrete wall of about 20 meters high - much lower than the one in Philadelphia - with wire on the top. Every dozen or so meters, there were watchtowers situated, in which, when the zone still existed, the guards were looking out for hordes of infected approaching the area. The Washington Quarantine Zone consisted of four smaller security zones, every one of them guarded and with restricted rules of access. Every person had to be subjected to test for _Cordyceps_ infection each once in a while, depending on the security zone he lived. Every diagnosis of the disease meant _instant_ execution.

All these precautions could not, however, protect the zone against the danger that existed in its core: the human factor. Somebody, somewhere, somehow, for some reason, broke the rules. Deliberately or inadvertently. Because somebody wanted to protect a loved one or because somebody wanted to gain some tangible benefit. And one accident caused the domino effect. At the speed of light.

The heart of the zone was the building of the United States Capitol. It dominated the landscape, but its size permitted to conduct all kinds of administration needed for the quarantine zone to function correctly on an everyday basis. It was also rather easy to defend it or to hide inside it. That's probably why it was now the residence of its last sovereign.

The moment they walked into the zone through the completely demolished main gate, Heero got his gun out of his pocket and flicked off its safety. He scanned the surroundings with cautious eyes. The wind roared in the narrow, dirty alleys. The fabric of the tents fluttered in the wind, the metal doors of the buildings squeaked, rats were running in every direction. Lots of noises in a seemingly dead zone. He understood that it would be difficult for him to maintain concentration to detect movement in time. They had to get the Capitol Building as quickly as possible.

"You said that finding this guy was an _easy_ part," he heard Relena's voice behind him. "So, what's the hard part?"

He thought for a second on the answer. "Let's say he's _problematic_ when it comes to human relations."

Relena spat out with irony. "You don't say?"

Heero's face remained still. "Keep your voice down," he replied shortly with a flat voice.

She didn't say anything but followed him silently through another perimeter. The zone was enormous. The closer to the center they were getting, the more dried corpses they encountered. The way they were dressed sometimes made it possible to guess who they were during their lives and how they could have died. There were also many infected's corpses. The further they were getting, the more traces of chaos were seen; makeshift barricades, execution rows, minor battlegrounds… The last moments of the Washington Quarantine Zone had to be horrifying for those who were trapped inside, unable to run from the infected that stormed the final perimeter.

Being alert, Heero was cautious about making sure that Relena was still following him. She was, in silence, only occasionally stopping him and pointing to something that alarmed her. But the more gloomy the landscape around them was becoming, the more often he was hearing her making quiet, half-muffled sighs of terror at the view she was witnessing. She'd stopped all once in a while and lament in silence over the tragedy that took place in her city. It worried him; she became more and more distracted.

"Relena," he turned around and called her name the moment he stopped hearing her footsteps again. Relena knelt on the ground, holding a scrap of paper. It contained some illiterate words scratched with a dark pencil. He noticed that they began with the word _Mom_.

She slowly tilted her head up at him. Her cerulean eyes were full of tears.

"Just how…" Relena muttered silently, her voice still firm, "how much more frightening death is when you're dying lonely. When you can't even say goodbye to your loved ones. When you don't know where they are if they're all right. And you come to leave this world without any clue about their fate. That's just not right."

She whispered these words quietly, but a loud cry of protest sounded through her. Heero was under the impression that although he was the only living human to hear her words, they weren't directed only to him. It was her personal veto against the world, against people, against death.

For a brief moment, Heero was very close to grab her shoulders and shake her back to the harsh, heartless, and deadly reality that surrounded them. But her words took some of the nonphysical weight off his chest that had been building up in him for some time. Maybe she just gave a name to something he felt for so long.

Relena sighed, smoothing a scrap of paper with a trembling hand on her lap, and a tear flowed down her cheek. Heero felt that killing or even weakening this beautiful sensitivity that this girl managed to protect inside herself was the last thing he wanted to do or let happen.

He knelt on one knee in front of her and wiped a tear on her cheek with the tops of his fingertips. Her skin was pleasantly smooth under his touch. Relena looked into his eyes, seeking comfort, but he, contrary to her, couldn't find the right words to say to her. He stayed by her, in silence, in the heart of the abandoned zone.

Eventually, Relena sighed deeply, and Heero took it as a sign that she was ready to walk again. He got on his feet and held out his hand to her. She accepted it and raised herself on her feet with his help. Then she folded the paper in half and put it in the pocket of her denim jacket. She didn't say anything more but followed him with her eyes downcast.

After another hour of walk through the zone, they reached the wide, imperial stairs conducting to the main entrance of the Capitol building. Even those stairs have seen better days. Its primary role wasn't now a representative one. It was another line of defense for the owner of this stronghold. Another battlefield. It was apparent that somebody still lived here and tried to protect himself. The wire entanglements were all positioned neatly, along with all kinds of traps. It was impossible to go through there unnoticed. Heero walked around the stairs looking for any entrance; he quickly realized that they wouldn't enter through any of the front entries. Heero moved slowly, feeling a disturbing tingling on the back of his neck as if someone was watching his every step. He wouldn't be surprised if that were true; he just hoped that it was the person he expected.

"Heero, I think I found the way in," he suddenly heard Relena's voice. She was only a few steps ahead of him. He didn't notice when she outwalked him. She was inevitably approaching the metal door with the board _Security_ on it, right under the stairs.

A door right _here_? It was too easy. After a nanosecond, Heero already figured why.

"Relena, stop!" he choked, sprinting towards her, but she had already pressed the door handle.

At the same moment when Heero knocked Relena down, from under the bare ground, right in the spot where she had just stood, a steel rope rose up. It cut the air with the speed of light and made a loud sound as it strained. Anything that stood in its path would have been cut in half. Especially Relena's body.

Once on the ground, Heero quickly disentangled himself from shocked Relena, pulling out his gun and looking around. THIS also seemed too easy. Suddenly, he heard the click of the straining mechanism somewhere at his left side and pushed Relena away from him with all his strength. She rolled away, and at the same second, four loops of cord tightened on the ground around Heero; he was able to dodge three out of four. The fourth one closed tightly around his right wrist and instantly pulled him backward. The strength of the tug almost pulled his arm out of his shoulder joint again. Heero dropped the gun and fell on his back, feeling the rope pulling him along on ground a few meters back, until he braced with his head and shoulders against some hard obstacle.

The force of the impact dazed him for a moment. He could hear Relena's faint, terrified scream as she called him by name. Heero shook his head and tried to free his arm that was unnaturally bent backward. He only felt a blockage in his shoulder, and a sharp pain blinded him again for a moment. He reached far behind his head with his other hand - the rope was thick but not reinforced.

"Heero!" he heard Relena's voice again and felt her hands tugging at the material of his jacket. He opened his eyes, seeing her frightened face in front of him, which softened when he came to his senses. "Are you OK?"

"I'm all right," he replied, then reached into the inside pocket of his jacket for his knife. Before he could take it out of the case, Relena snatched it from him and quickly cut the cord that still restrained it.

"Can you move it?" she asked. Heero checked. He nodded - he could. With pain, but the most important thing was that he could.

"Not bad, Yuy."

They both snapped their heads up towards the stairs to the Capitol at those words, spoken with a Chinese accent.

"I could expect it. Nine out of ten who fall into this trap are torn into four parts. You managed to limit this to just one limb," the last sentence was spoken with a little admiration. A short man with distinct Chinese features stood at the top of the first level of the stairs and aimed at them with a shotgun. "Now explain to me what the fuck you're doing here before I shoot you."

* * *

TBC

Feel free to leave a review if you liked it or not :)


	12. Chapter 12 - The Last Citizen

Chapter 12 - The Last Citizen

"Wufei," Heero addressed the Chinese that was still aiming at him. "Long time, no see."

"How perceptive," Wufei kept him and Relena on the line of fire. "But I guess you didn't come here because you missed me?"

Heero grabbed Relena by the arm and firmly pushed her behind him, positioning himself on the line between her and Wufei's gun barrel. "Fuck you."

The Chinese man's face grimaced. "Polite as usual. Don't tempt me to shoot you like a dog, cause I don't need much encouragement to do it. And what the hell is this _woman_ doing here?"

Heero felt Relena's hand clasping on his shoulder. "She's with me, that's all you need to know," he growled.

"Mistake, Yuy. Before I even consider beginning any normal conversation with you, I need to know a bit more. I don't care about your relationship status. I'm interested in precisely two things: whether you're infected and what do I owe this visit of yours."

"We're not infected, you can check it, you lunatic," Heero replied with an icy voice. "And I'm not going to say anything more until you let us in."

Chinese man smirked gloomily again. "Second mistake. Make it three. You're making this way _too_ easy for me."

"This is how you're always repaying for saving your life, Wufei?" Heero asked, giving him a death stare.

Wufei was silent for an uncomfortably long moment. "I wouldn't call it _that_," he eventually hissed. "What the fuck do you want, Yuy?"

"Let us in," Heero repeated insistently, emphasizing each word. He stared at Wufei's dark eyes just over the barrel of his shotgun with his steely ones, without a blink. With each passing second, Relena was clinging tighter to his back. He, however, with each passing second, was more and more confident that his Chinese friend won't shoot at them.

And he was right. Eventually, Wufei lowered his shotgun and pointed at the doors that Relena tried to open a while ago. "Go through there. Keep near the right wall. I will meet you inside," he said shortly, then sprinted up the stairs.

Heero finally exhaled air from his lungs and looked over his shoulder at Relena. Her cerulean orbs met his, and she stood clear of his back, clasping her hands on her lap. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "For a moment, I was sure he will…"

She didn't finish the sentence. Heero looked down, noticing that she held a gun in her hands. He wondered if this time, Relena had it loaded. But he didn't ask. Instead, he rose on his feet and walked with her towards the entrance.

x x x

Passing through the corridors of former security, technical service, and secret services' passages, they finally reached the representative part of the Capitol. There they witnessed a horrible mess that ultimately didn't correlate with the sublimity of the building and its intended use. During the existence of the zone, it was used as the center of the limited administration and the seat of a military unit that guarded law and order. The once marble and elegant interiors now resembled more old barracks than the cradle of democracy. Democracy, which ceased to exist, and was replaced by tyranny and the law of the jungle.

Wufei stood in the middle of a half-round, high hall surrounded by all sides by dark gray columns. In the olden days between the columns statues of the Founding Fathers had to stand, now almost all of them were on the ground, overturned and broken to the point it was difficult to distinguish them. There was also a large chandelier on the ground, detached from the ceiling.

"Thanks," Heero mumbled his courtesy as he and Relena stood within a safe distance from Wufei.

Wufei didn't respond, casting a malevolent look at Relena. Heero didn't take his eyes off his old friend. He didn't like the way Wufei was looking at Relena. He involuntarily made sure she was standing behind him. Wufei still held his hand on a shotgun that was slung over his shoulder, pointed at the ground. "You get in my house, turn on traps, violate my peace of mind. Will you finally tell me what the fuck do you want from me?"

Heero kept his gaze still. "I'll be brief. We have a long way to go. We need a car or a motorcycle, anything with the engine. I know you can help us with that."

Wufei stared at them for a moment in silence and then burst out with loud, ominous laughter that echoed in the hall. Heero was surprised to see his old friend laughing for the first time since he knew him. "Your insolence knows no bounds, Yuy. The world is falling apart, and you do what? You come to me like to some fucking convenience store and ask for a car?!"

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough," Heero ground out, approaching the Chinese by a few steps. "I don't come to you like to store. I come to you to give you a chance to pay off the debt."

"Watch it, Yuy. I don't owe you anything."

"Cut this nonsense. We both know the truth, Wufei," Heero continued. A scene from five years ago lightened up in his memory at those words. "I don't want the gratitude I never expected from you. I've come to settle bills-"

"Shut up!" Wufei suddenly screamed, suddenly holding a shotgun, but he didn't aim it at them. Relena gasped silently behind Heero's back. At this outburst, Heero involuntarily, but slowly reached for his gun without taking it out of his pocket. "Shut the fuck up! How dare you calling what you did 'saving my life'?! I _died_ that day, Yuy!"

The Chinese man breathed heavily, half-hunched, holding the shotgun in his hand and measuring him with deadly eyes. Heero held this look calmly, slowly moving his hand away from his gun.

"No. You're still _alive_, Wufei," he said calmly.

"Define 'alive.' I live like a rat in a cage, feeding on leftovers and waste, in a world where even the air I breathe kills me. I'd rather be dead already."

"But you're still alive. And that's what _she_ wanted," Heero said silently.

The scorched out memory had triggered the least expected effect. Wufei drew his shotgun toward them, reloading it. Heero didn't remain passive at this and also drew out his gun, then froze, holding the target.

"Don't you dare mention _her_ to me, punk!" Wufei shouted. "Don't you even dare!"

"Stop it, you two!"

Heero felt his voice stuck in his throat out of surprise as Relena ran out from behind him and stood between him and Wufei.

"How can you aim at yourself?" her words echoed off the walls. "I don't know what happened between you two, but you were once friends... It would be a tragedy for both of you if, after everything that you've been through and after you had survived for this long, you would have died from the hands of a friend!"

Heero froze, feeling his heart beating faster for the first time since the beginning of the whole scuffle with Wufei. He was looking and aiming at the Chinese from behind Relena's back, ready to react at any change of situation. He felt the blood in his veins circular faster when she was standing before him, her arms spread out protectively.

"Please," Relena lowered her voice, addressing to Wufei. That second, Heero could hear her voice tremble slightly.

Wufei frowned and eventually lowered his weapon. Heero did the same, a second after him.

"Who the hell is this _woman_, Yuy?"

Heero felt hotness rising in his chest at the disparaging tone with which Wufei pronounced the word 'woman' repeatedly.

"My name is Relena," Relena answered him by herself as if she didn't notice that the Chinese man was obviously treating her like an object rather than a person. Heero considered it reasonable to not mention her surname to Wufei. "I need to get to Houston, and Heero agreed to help me. Now we need your help. Will you help us?"

Wufei stayed quiet for a moment, studying Relena with cautious eyes as if she was a creature from the other world. "You have a nerve, woman, don't you?" He frowned at Relena and Heero for a while. "Houston, huh? Might as well be Houston. Maybe I'll be able to help you." He finally turned his back to them. "But when I do, you're getting the fuck outta here, on whatever transportation I'll give you," he said and walked out of the hall, leaving them alone.

With Wufei gone, Heero walked over to Relena. "What you just did was incredibly stupid," he jawed her silently. "You have no idea how fucked up he is. He would have killed you in a blink of an eye."

Relena froze at his words, her eyes widened. "Well, you're welcome, I guess," she said sarcastically and tried to bypass him. Heero reached his hand and grabbed her wrist.

"I mean it," he hissed angrily, stopping her and pulling her closer to him.

"Heero…!" she gasped, but he continued.

"You can't risk your life like that. That wasn't something we agreed on. Don't you ever do that again."

"It hurts," she whispered quietly, her cerulean, fearless eyes fixed on him, and Heero realized how tightly he was gripping her wrist. He let go of it immediately, unexpectedly feeling inadequate and guilty. Relena stood calmly in front of him, in silence, her eyes now downcast.

"Stay here," he ordered, letting his eyes tilt down, and then he walked past her.

x x x

"_Watch out!" Heero screamed, but it was too late. The burning scaffolding fell down, crushing what was left of the already broken bridge. It was his last chance, and it wasn't the best moment for altruism. He took the run and made a long jump. His body hit against the cement edge of the ruined floor of the building, he felt rubble painfully digging into his forearms. Gravity dragged his body down mercilessly, but he managed to hold and climb onto the shelf._

_Everything was burning with fire, even the air burned him in his throat, his lungs. The sound of the slowly collapsing skyscraper resembled the roar of an animal dying in pain. A dozen or so floors below them, the subway corridors began, glowing in the nucleus of the fire. It started to consume higher and higher levels. The fire destroyed everything - both people and the infected. Everything it met on its way. _

_Heero turned his head back at the familiar scream. Wufei and Meilan were still running through the hell he just got out of. He slid over the shelf._

"_Wufei!" he screamed, but his voice was drowned out. _

_The Chinese stopped firing to the approaching infected, noticed him, and grabbed the woman by the arm to begin a run towards the abyss. Suddenly Meilan stumbled. "Wufei!" she screamed desperately for him._

_Wufei turned, directing his shots blindly towards the Runner that attacked Meilan's legs. The monster quickly fell dead. Wufei grabbed Meilan's shoulders and set her to his feet. Heero could see that he was talking to her, but he couldn't hear his words. Seconds passed, the fire was getting closer. He held out his hand even further. "Wufei!"_

_Wufei turned and took a run to jump towards Heero. Their hands connected in a firm grip. Having climbed onto the shelf, Wufei turned and protruding himself far beyond the edge of the rack, reached out his hand to his wife. "Meilan!" he shouted._

_The woman, however, stood still where he had left her. Heero approached the edge uncertainly. "Meilan, jump!" he shouted._

"_Stop fooling around!" Wufei was screaming, his voice trembling. "I'll grab you, just jump!"_

_Meilan looked up, her eyes full of tears. Heero held his breath, noticing that she was lifting the material of her loose pants just over her ankle. Even in the hot, wavy air, a bleeding wound could be seen. An injury in the shape of the teeth trace._

_Wufei's body froze in terror, his eyes widened. "No..." he gasped, his voice hoarse, "Meilan, just jump, goddamn it! Let me see it!"_

_But the woman shook her head sadly, then put her hands around her mouth. "Wufei, I stay here."_

"…_No!" Wufei screamed and threw one of his legs off the edge of the shelf. Heero grabbed the Chinese by his shoulders, stopping him, but he began to struggle like an animal caught in a snare. "Let me go, you fucker! Meilan! Meilan!"_

"_I'm sorry," Meilan's voice rang out. "Let Heero take you away from this place. You must survive. Please, live."_

"_MEILAN!"_

"_Till we meet again, my dear husband."_

_Saying those words, she made one last step over the abyss, and her body began to fall freely, loosely into the burning fire. And Heero focused every cell of his body on keeping in this world the man who desperately tried to jump after his wife._

* * *

TBC

I want to thank all my readers so far :)


	13. Chapter 13 - The Motorcycle x

**Chapter 13 - The Motorcycle**

Heero marched briskly on the marble floor, between boxes and metal shelves, full of all sorts of weapons, ammunition, and quite vast supplies that Wufei piled up in his fortress. The further he went, the less surprised he was that his friend defended himself for so long. He felt uncomfortable after losing control when talking to Relena earlier. He sensed that he had crossed some invisible border that had existed between them. This border wasn't easy to define in the first place, but now he sensed that it had just ceased to apply.

He found Wufei in one of the side rooms. Like all rooms in the building, that one held the traces of multiple pillages too. Wufei stood with his back to him, rummaging through the canisters. Some of the tin containers made a clear sound indicating that some liquid was still in them. Heero knew that Wufei already sensed that he had entered the room, so he waited for him to speak first.

"What's this story that you got involved in?" Wufei asked unexpectedly. He chose one of the canisters and cast Heero a curious look over his shoulder. "Is that your woman?"

Heero measured the Chinese with his eyes completely free of emotion. "She is not my woman."

"Whatever," Wufei raised his eyebrows. "I have several motorbikes in the garage of this building. Maybe at least one of them turns out to be running."

Heero lowered his eyes, then followed the Chinese man down to the lower floors. The twisting stairs led them to a dark garage. They lit their way with flashlights and reached a dozen or so parked motorcycles. Heero looked around, illuminating the darkness around them. "There are no infected here?" he asked.

Wufei knelt at the first motorcycle. "They can be anywhere. There were no infected here in the morning," he looked up at Heero. "Make yourself useful, Yuy. Give me some fucking light here."

Heero approached the motorcycle lightening over the engine. They weren't talking much even before Wufei left and started his solitude in Washington; both weren't talkative types. But now it was merely anything to talk about. After a few minutes of rummaging in the guts of the engine, the metal cover slammed shut.

"It looks like the engine and the candles are all right," Heero noticed.

"Looks like it," Wufei confirmed, then opened the tank inlet and began pouring gas from the canister. "I'll give you a full tank, but then you have to look for gas on your own. Do you have a tube?"

Heero nodded. "We'll manage."

Wufei shook his head slightly as he finished pouring gas. "Trust me, I don't give a fuck about that."

"I know," Heero replied dryly. He walked around the motorcycle and got on the saddle, then turned the keys and the handle. The engine choked loudly, then went out. He tried the second and third time. Finally, after more than twenty years, gasoline began to circulate through the veins of the old motorcycle, and the engine gave out a predatory murmur.

"And there it is," Wufei said, not without a sparkle of pride in his voice, as Heero made a few circles around the dark garage to charge up the battery. "So, you'll be out of my sight even faster than I thought."

Heero stopped the engine. "We can leave anytime. I just need to pick up Relena."

"I'm here," they both heard a soft voice from the entrance. Relena was standing in the doorframe to the parking. "I didn't want to stay up there, so I followed you."

Heero let out a sigh. "Then get on," he said, tilting his head at the seat for the passenger behind him, then glanced at Wufei. "Where's the gate?"

"I'll guide you," Wufei replied, then walked straight into the darkness. A few seconds after the cellar was illuminated by the light of the midday as he opened large, tin doors.

Heero felt Relena squirming nervously on her seat. "What's up?"

"I don't feel stable. What should I hold on to?"

"Find your footrest. And grab me."

Relena fell silent for a moment, then she shyly slipped her hands on both sides of his torso and joined them over his stomach. Heero turned on the engine and drove slowly to the door that Wufei opened for them, stopping right next to the Chinese man. Sunlight blinded them, depriving the world of its colors for a moment. Heero covered his eyes with his hand and looked at Wufei.

"Take care," he said. The Chinese gave him a hard-to-decipher look in return. They both didn't know if they were seeing each other for the last time or whether fate would lead to their meeting again. They didn't know whether they would live to the end of this nightmare or they would die before.

"Get out," Wufei eventually said with a cold voice, then he turned on his heel and entered the basement again, closing the gate. The metal doors slammed shut behind him.

"Well… that was quick…" Relena noted quietly. "What now?"

"Grab me tight." Relena obediently tightened her grip around Heero's chest. He felt her cheek resting on his shoulder blade. "We drive."

x x x

The motorcycle's engine roared steadily as they drove through the districts toward the northern outskirts of the city, where the last bridge was to remain, on the narrowest stretch of the Potomac River. Heero sat slightly hunched, leaning his weight on the steering handles, the wind blowing in his hair. He was choosing empty and wide roads, making no stops. Just below his chest, he felt the warmth of Relena's small, clenched hands. Feeling her chin brushing his back over and over again, he figured that she was looking intensely around. She was probably looking at her hometown. But she remained silent.

When they passed the city buildings and entered the outskirts, the environment changed. Streets became calmer, full of greenery. Neat houses appeared on the sides, some more like villas. The forest slowly appropriated these areas for itself, grass covered most of the once asphalt road, parked cars were falling apart in the process of the progressing corrosion. Traces were indicating that the place was abandoned in a panic.

As the sun began to set behind the tree line towards the river, Heero suddenly felt Relena tug at his jacket.

"Heero, stop!"

He glanced over his shoulder. Relena was frowning intently at something in the distance on their right side. "I say, stop!"

"What is it?" he asked tetchily, slackening the motorcycle in case she wanted to jump off it. He planned to cross the Potomac before night, and any delay doomed this plan to fail. "Relena, what's the matter?" he continued.

But when the motorcycle stopped, Relena jumped off the seat and bolted into the overgrown yard. "Relena!"

Heero quickly realized that there was no point in shouting for her. He cursed loudly, dismounted the motorcycle, and chased after the girl. When she ran into the bushes, he lost sight of her. He ran into the plants, feeling sharp branches whipping his face. He never saw Relena running this fast. The bushes thinned quickly and suddenly, a ruin of a spacious, two-story white colonial house appeared before his eyes. Part of the roof was collapsed, the front door to the house was balanced, no windows remained. The house showed signs of arson, but it still stood, more and more densely covered with ivy, which gradually appropriated its walls.

Heero looked around for Relena, but couldn't hear any rustle of grass. Suddenly, however, he heard a loud, distinct clatter of shoes against the wood. He directed his steps towards the stairs leading to the front door hanging on single hinges.

"Relena!" he shouted, but she didn't answer him. The floor in the hall collapsed, and only one of the two pairs of stairs leading to the first floor remained. He could feel musty smell everywhere. Then he noticed shoe prints on the mud-covered floor this year's flood that led upstairs.

"Relena!" Heero called for her again. Although he didn't hear any suspicious sounds, he automatically pulled out his pistol. He started climbing the wooden stairs, holding himself close to the wall.

Suddenly his jacket was caught by some obstacle on the wall. When he turned around, he noticed a half-crumpled picture of four people on a garden bench. He was about to pass it by when something caught his attention. He looked closely at the landscape. Just behind these people stood the same house he was in. Something else, however, seemed strangely familiar to him in this photograph. He frowned at the faces of people looking happily toward him, frozen in time, when the world seemed so peaceful. Heero's eyes fixed at the tall, handsome man standing next to a beautiful woman with royal features. The man was holding a young boy with blond hair and blue eyes by his hand. The woman in the foreground, holding a small child in her hands, looked remarkably much alike Relena Peacecraft.

A realization came to his mind.

He whipped his head up, looking at the top of the stairs, then slowly moved further on. The first floor was spacious, and the corridor led to several more rooms. They were all open, orange-red rays of the setting sun fell through the windows on the damaged, dusty floor. He passed a place that resembled a room of a teenage boy, full of posters with robots, and then one of a little girl, all painted in pink and arranged in princess-like style. He noticed a shadow moving in the last room and headed in its direction.

The room he entered in had to serve as a matrimonial bedroom once. It had to be pained in white or pastel colors, but now the walls were covered with black mold, the paint peeled off with entire patches, and once a silky, soft carpet was rolled out of moisture. Fiery light came through three large windows along with the smell of evening moisture and the fading singing of birds.

Relena stood in the center of the room, her back to him, gazing at the empty bed. Her petite silhouette cast a giant shadow on the floor.

"Relena," Heero said quietly, trying to make sure she was aware of his presence.

Relena slowly turned to face him. He couldn't guess the expression on her face as it was shadowed on the background of the setting sun. "Heero," she whispered. "This is my home."

He said nothing, stopping at the doorstep of Relena's parents' bedroom, still holding a gun in his hand. He didn't know what he could say, so he remained silent. Relena looked around the room for a moment longer, then directed her steps to Heero, stopping just by the door frame. She reached with her hand and gently wiped the wood by the door hinges with her fingertips. "Look here."

Heero followed her hand with his gaze. On the surface of gray wood, he noticed the scratched lines, appearing every few or several centimeters. Each was given a name and year.

"2013 - Milliardo."

"2012 - Milliardo."

"2013 - Relena."

"2012 - Relena."

"2011 - Relena."

"2010 - Milliardo."

"2010 - Relena."

Heero watched in silence as Relena brushed her slim fingers over the wood as she read the chronicle of her growth. It ended in 2013. In the year of the outbreak. When the world of their childhood ceased to exist once and for all.

"Mom was always busy saving our growth progress. Only once Milliardo wasn't measured," Relena said, holding her finger at the date of 2011 and smiling slightly. "Dad told me it was because he was angry that he had grown so little for a year."

Heero realized that he was no longer looking at the scratches on the doorframe to her parents' bedroom. He was staring at Relena, wondering how the line of her chin might have been so shapely in the spot where her swan neck was joining her face. He realized that her forehead, partly hidden behind the loose fringe, was so genuinely royal. That her delicate, honey-colored hair curled a little just around her ear, then cascaded down her thin shoulders. And just how _frighteningly_ beautiful she was when tears started streaming down her face.

Heero wasn't sure if he was more afraid of the enormity of her beauty, which he now realized, or the vastness of fondness that filled his chest, which he still didn't understand and didn't know, and which escaped any of his control.

He could say he was sorry to comfort her, and that would have been the most absolute truth, but what good would it bring? He could tell her to not cry, but should he ask her of that?

"Heero," she suddenly whispered, but didn't look up at him, then drew a deep breath into her chest, letting out a soft moan, like a broken toy. Her body trembled as tears streamed down her cheeks, her neck, and upon her chest. "Heero...!"

He couldn't figure why she was pronouncing his name all over again; maybe the syllables corresponding to his name settled just accidentally in subsequent, short breaths that shook her body every one or two seconds. They had to. Why else would she say it? Witnessing the torture she was undergoing, the bloodless anguish of her body and soul, his own body behaved as if it had the will of its own. Casting off all attempts to regain control of himself, he took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to his body.

She didn't stop crying. Instead, her breaths got shallow, she almost choked out crying, pressing her face and hands against Heero's chest and clasping the material of his shirt. He rested his chin on her head and cradled the back of her neck, slowly caressing it, the silk of her hair tangled between his fingers. She slowly got quieter, but her body was hot as if she was suffering from a fever. After a few other trembles, he felt her body relax under his arms and sensed her hands sliding up against his sides, resting on his shoulders.

Heero finally pulled back, grasping her by her shoulders. Relena looked up at him, her eyes swollen, cheeks blushed red of crying. He searched her face, her eyes - now so tired of the lament they suffered - and ran his thumb along the line of her chin, her jaw, her cheek, and temple. Touching her like that for a second time today, he was amazed that a human's skin could be this soft and fragile. It almost felt out of this world, the world of endless dirt and plague. _This_ Earth just couldn't give birth to a beauty that was standing in front of him.

Relena's lips parted slightly as she placed her own, little hand on the back of his. She was mere inches from him, her eyes glistened with some inexplicable glow. He could kiss her then; he wanted it, and he knew that she would probably let him. For an instant, he felt a thrill shot through his body. He suddenly wished that the old house collapsed around them, so he could protect and shield her, never caring about his own life. It was new to him and unexpected, just like the feeling of yearning that followed it when he realized that he did not deserve her.

Not daring to take any step further, his hand fell to his side, and he cast his eyes down, letting his dark hair shroud them.

"It's getting dark. We have to go," Heero stated flatly as he turned on his heel and stepped out of the room, into the shadow of the gloomy corridor. "I'll wait for you outside."

He could feel her eyes on him as he descended the stairs, but he didn't turn. He sensed that if he had, his legs would lead him immediately to her.

He was infected. The virus was nestling in the cells of his mind and body, slowly taking over control. But it wasn't a virus of the _Cordyceps Brain Infection_.

However, that night, Heero didn't yet fully realize that. When Relena left the house and got back on their motorcycle, he started the engine and headed for the red glow, which marked the tomb for the setting sun.

* * *

TBC

And this little bittersweet scene is my Christmas gift for you guys :) I wish you a magical Christmas, full of love and warmth. See you soon!


	14. Chapter 14 - The Rain

WARNING: from this chapter on, you may encounter graphic descriptions of violence and elements of survival horror.

**Chapter 14 - The Rain**

_June_

x x x

_His head didn't hit the concrete when they tripped only because it was shielded by her hand. He tried to grip the material of her sweater, but his sweaty fingers slid down the slippery fabric. After a moment, the woman abruptly rose from her knees, improved her tight grip around him, and began to run again. With his head pressed against her chest, he could hear her heart pounding and her breathings wheezing with terror and exhaustion, echoing in her whole body._

"_Mom," he whispered. "I'm scared."_

_What answered him was a loud bang of an exploding nearby car and the terrified screams of both men and women, running in different directions. In all this chaos, he could only hear his mother's voice as he was pressing his ear to her chest. _

"_Everything will be fine," she comforted him in a shaky voice. "Everything will be fine…"_

_He wanted to believe her. He swallowed and looked around. Everything around them was falling apart. The building of his nursery school was burning like a torch. There were people on fire running frenziedly on the streets. Some of them were lying on the ground, motionlessly. And some were acting weird, running around, screaming hellishly, lunging at others. _

"_Don't look," his mother covered his eyes with her hand, pressing him even closer to her chest. "Oh, God, we're almost…"_

_Something hard and heavy hit them with such force that the woman released him. He fell to the ground, hitting his back against concrete, and rolled a few meters away. When he stopped, he saw his mother lying with her back on the ground, fighting the dark figure of a man who attacked her with outstretched fingers like claws, roaring loudly._

"_Mom!" he screamed as he lifted up from the ground and tried to get to her. _

"_Heero, run-" _

_He froze, unable to close his eyes. The monster let out another hellish roar and bit into his mother's neck, tugging and ripping the artery. His mother's eyes went wide with terror and pain, her limbs turning numb, her mouth congealed in the shape of the word 'run.' The fountain of blood gushed and flown down on the concrete, staining it forever with red; just as in Heero's mind, the image of his mother, devoured by the monster, was forever captured._

_He couldn't run. He couldn't move._

_And then the monster turned his mad eyes at him, his mother's blood still dripping from its jaw._

x x x

"Heero!"

A familiar, anxious voice pulled him out of his nightmare, and his eyes shot open. For a moment, he didn't know where he was. He couldn't catch his breath for a long moment, and his heart was beating so fast that his chest hurt. Struggling in a nightmare, he fell off the couch, where he laid himself to sleep yesterday night.

"Heero," he heard the same voice again. He looked up. Relena was kneeling by his head, a worried expression painted on her face. "You had another nightmare?"

Heero blinked, then covered his face with a hand, rubbing his eyelids hard, as if trying to wipe away the memory of a nightmare. "It's an understatement," he muttered, then sat hunched on the floor.

They spent the last weeks on the road. It surprised even Heero how much gasoline was preserved in the abandoned trucks or cars they were passing by along the way. And the motorcycle itself functioned well. Thanks to that, they were moving so much faster, covering much more ground with each passing day. They were passing by forests and rivers, countrysides and bigger cities, motels and farms. Now, when there were no humans to be seen, all these buildings seemed so out of style. They didn't match the surroundings, so nature slowly claimed her territory.

Nevertheless, the journey south seemed endless. Heero concentrated on driving, choosing smaller roads, usually less destroyed, and less barricaded by the abandoned cars. In places like these, it was also much more probable to find useful stuff and food, and no hunters were stalking the area. Judging by Relena's movements at the passengers' seat of his motorcycle, he was guessing that she was watching the surroundings. The road was much more repeatable and the views as so. At times when he felt her fall asleep, he was grabbing her jointed hands to make sure she wouldn't fall off the motorcycle.

And so they reached the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. They made a stop in a tiny house on the outskirts. The house was typical to the limits, but its furniture was well preserved; they both could sleep decently, Relena on a twin bed in the bedroom, Heero on the sofa in the living room. And having such convenient conditions to sleep apparently awakened the old horrors.

Heero shot a look through the window. The sun was already high in the sky; he had to oversleep a lot. The weather was a bit gloomy; it was evident that the first summer storm was coming.

"We need to get going," he stated, brushing brown hair off his face. "Otherwise, we will have to go in the rain."

Then, when he was ready to get up, he felt a tug of the hem of his shirt, and two ocean-blue eyes stared at him in consternation. "What?"

"Heero, I've never seen anybody suffering from a nightmare this much," Relena said quietly. "Usually people turn from side to side, they murmur something incomprehensible under their breath... but you… your body acted as if you were _there_ again. Where you witnessed that _something_ that's still hounding you."

His instinct was telling him to run. Her cerulean-blue eyes were vetting him. Relena slowly revealed and reopened his old wounds with which he had learned to live, covering them with oblivion and healing them with the will of survival every day in this hell on earth, with no hope for a salvation to come. And now, that creature kneeling on the ground near him was dangerously approaching his soul.

"Tell me, Heero," Relena whispered, insistently. "I can't keep on watching you suffer during these nightmares. Maybe if I..."

Her words hung unfinished in the air as Heero gently moved her hand away from him until she released her grip on his shirt. "Everyone has their nightmares, Relena," he said firmly, letting go of her hand. "One must learn to live with them."

"You don't have to do it alone," Relena insisted, "you can share it with others."

Heero shrugged. "In the end, you always end up counting on yourself."

Relena took a breath as if she was about to say something, but he sent her an unfriendly frown. That repeatedly crossing a clear boundary he had set irritated him. "Get ready to leave."

When he thought he had already cut the subject, Relena gave him a small, thoughtful smile. "I hope that one day you will trust me."

She said nothing more, and he felt too confused to think about her words. As they left their hiding place, a storm was gathering over the city, surrounding the tilted skyscrapers with a gloomy aura. Dark clouds emitted a loud murmur as if warning of entering the city.

Perhaps there was another way they could have chosen that day. Maybe they should have stayed in the hideout one day longer. Maybe if they knew the danger they were about to face, they would have acted differently.

However, this did not happen, and their motorcycle was mercilessly approaching the southern districts of the city.

x

As usual, Heero avoided the center. Unlike Washington or Baltimore, Charlottle City never had its quarantine zone established. The reason for this was the extraordinarily rapid and unstoppable increase of cases of infection in the first weeks of the epidemic. The virus spread there much faster. Too fast to try to save anyone here, too violently to risk spreading the virus to surrounding areas. That is why the government decided to bomb Charlotte and hundreds of other cities in the country where the chances of saving anyone were too low. Bombs were falling for several days and nights, destroying everything in their path and killing not only the infected but also those residents who, left by themselves, didn't manage to leave the city by themselves. According to the idea: sacrifice a few to save many. Or something like that.

Now the city seemed like a vast battlefield. Skyscrapers in the center were either in ruins or leaning dangerously on unstable ground. Some districts have been literally wiped off the face of the earth. The buildings were burned or demolished, streets ended with deep bomb holes. Burnt stumps of cars and street lamps hung on the sidewalks, there was hardly any greenery in the city. It stank of death everywhere, and the wind roaring in the city spread this stench to all its nooks and crannies, though there was no trace left of people after so many years.

The atmosphere was even worse because of the raging storm. The lightning strikes that repeated more and more often brought thunder that echoed around the city. Heero carefully chose the road, trying to avoid turning into dead ends. Instinct told him that they should drive through as fast as possible. Although the city seemed deserted, he sensed that it wasn't safe here. Unfortunately, the streets were often impassable, forcing him to make a detour by another road dangerously approaching the former city center. More and more often, Heero was finding himself thinking that he saw some movement in the dark interiors of abandoned buildings, in underground passages, or just on street corners. Several times he noticed on the sidewalks, in places naturally roofed by buildings, corpses of the infected. Taking the form of flowers and stems, the bodies ceased to remind people.

Soon Heero felt the first drops of rain on his face. Black clouds completely covered the sun, and the city became dark as if night had fallen. The steady roar of their engine began to be interrupted by the thunder of a storm raging over the city.

"Heero," he suddenly heard Relena's concerned voice behind him. "I think I hear something."

The rain increased, but Heero knew what he meant. "I hear it too. We should get out of here."

Then suddenly, the space around them was illuminated by a blinding light, followed by a loud bang that made the ground under their feet tremble. The air around them chilled, and after a moment it burst with a hot wave of heat. Heero instinctively stopped the motorcycle, leaning on the handlebars and feeling Relena's body hitting his back.

The lightning struck the only tree that still stood in the area, or rather a dried-up stump sticking out of the ground, which flamed up almost immediately like a huge torch. The thunder echoed in the surrounding streets, bouncing off the empty skeletons of buildings. With this echo, a terrible sound from hell came. The scream was worse than that given in the worst torture. From so _many_ throats.

"Heero!" he felt Relena's hand, tugging at his shirt. He didn't need to turn in the direction she was looking to know that the infected were approaching them, drawn by the loud noise of the thunder.

"Hold on tight!"

The engine roared loudly, but not enough to draw out the sound of the approaching infernal horde. Water from puddles sprayed from under the wheels, and Heero directed them in the direction of the only unruined street. Behind them, the roars and sounds of dozens of feet were getting louder. As they drove past the empty, still standing, ruined buildings, more infected were running out. Heero sped up; the engine roared, warmed up the strongest in these twenty years. He couldn't go faster, although he managed to keep his distance from the infected. But they were still chasing them tirelessly.

"Heero," he heard Relena scream through the chaos. "They are still coming!"

"I know."

"What do we do?"

That was a good question. The gasoline almost ended as a result of long hours of driving. _Figures_. They had to think of something quickly. Suddenly, a road sign flashed above Heero's head, still hanging sadly on the scaffolding.

"We are approaching the airport," he shouted back to Relena, "we will lose them there."

"What?!" Relena yelled.

"The airport!" he repeated. "Just hold on."

The airport was destroyed by bombing as one of the first targets to cut off the escape route. Among the ruined and bombed tracts of such a massive object, it would be easier for them to lose their persecutors who were still hunting them down.

At least, that was what Heero figured that moment.

* * *

TBC

Thank you for all your reviews so far! :)


	15. Chapter 15 - The Seven Seconds

**Chapter 15 - The Seven Seconds**

They reached the airport on the last fuel vapors. Heero braked sharply, tilting the motorcycle sideways so violently that Relena almost slipped from the seat to the ground. At the end of the road they came from, behind the overturned cars and the remains of street blocks, he saw a few silhouettes of infected, who were still chasing them.

"Do you see them?" Relena asked, but he just grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the ruined airport buildings.

The airport's plate practically ceased to exist. There were wrecks of planes and helicopters everywhere, protruding from the craters of bombs that fell here twenty years ago. Heero jumped over the metal fence, then helped Relena pass. They ran into one of the first buildings that once served as terminals, and Heero shut the doors behind them.

"Upstairs," he ordered, pointing at the escalator that was still standing. The moment they ran on the first floor, the first infected started storming the door from the outside.

"O my God!" Relena gasped in terror as they reached the crown of the stairs. Heero felt her hand tucking at his shirt. "Heero, there are spores here!"

She was right; right behind a corner, Heero noticed a _Cordyceps_ flower. "Get on your mask, now!" he ordered, but Relena was already doing that. He followed her suit, and pushed her further forward, into the air filled with yellow dust, following her each step. "Run, Relena."

The walls of the empty terminal trembled with a roar, which heralded that the infected finally got inside. A terrifying howl echoed through the dark corridors; then the sound changed into the patter of feet that scattered across the ground floor of the terminal. The clump of feet triggered new waves of spores out in the air. As Heero and Relena ran behind the security gates, the pursuit sound faded slightly. Heero grabbed Relena's arm and stopped her, then lowered her to her knees.

"Now quiet," he whispered through his mask. "If we will be quiet, we will get through the building to the other side."

Relena gasped loudly, looking at him with large, terrified eyes. She was breathing too loudly and too quickly as if her heart would leap from her chest. Or as if she was about to suffocate in her mask. Heero grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Relena, breathe," he instructed her, hearing his voice muffled by the mask. He shook her slightly by her shoulders to catch her full attention. "Inhale and exhale. Slowly! You have to calm your breath, or you'll suffocate yourself!"

To his relief, she listened to his instructions, and she slowly sucked air into her lungs and let it out as if she was doing this for the first time in her life. Her mask was letting out a characteristic, hissing sound at every breath she took. After a moment, she nodded to him to acknowledge that she was all right.

"Now," Heero whispered, hearing the helpless roar of the infected spread across the ground floor. "You must be noiseless. I don't know if there are more of them inside already." He was about to turn around and move on when he remembered something. "Give me your gun."

Relena looked at him in surprise through the glass of her mask, then handed him her weapon. Heero checked the magazine - it was loaded.

"Atta girl," he praised her, handing her the weapon back. "Now follow me. Remember about breathing. And stay close."

"I will, Heero," she answered him, her voice finally even.

The terminal they ran into was in a rather good condition. It wasn't entirely destroyed, but there were traces of people leaving it in a great rush. Nevertheless, the building was taken by a virus that had been growing here for twenty years. Which also meant that there were probably other infected people here.

Heero noticed the first Clicker in the central alley of the duty-free zone. It moved chaotically, apparently already recording strange sounds from below caused by the hordes of Runners running in here. Heero and Relena passed him through the sprawling exhibitions of nearby shops. But the closer they were approaching the gates, the more Clickers came across. Heero focused all his senses on such a strategic choice of a path between them to pass unnoticed. The surrounding Clickers were standing or walking in circles, throwing their arms around in torment. The room was full of the bodies of other infected, now developing a stalk-like fungal projection on them. It was dark, and spores entirely polluted the air. They had to move very slowly because of the rustling rubble on the floor under their feet. Heero chose a path under the walls, as it was the farthest from the Clickers, but this path implied that they had to cross over bodies of other infected and very close to the _Cordyceps_ ominous flowers.

When they walked around the whole hall, the howls of the infected from the terminal started getting louder. At this noise, all Clickers began moving in the direction of the sound, trying to echolocate its source. That way, they moved away from Heero and Relena's position. Heero looked over his shoulder at Relena; she sent him a relieved look. When the Clickers moved away, Heero slowly got on his feet, helping Relena stand.

They took the staircase down. The lower, the denser the air was turning, due to the spores. Heero took out his flashbulb and illuminated the corridors in front of them. They noticed big posters on the wall with merry inscriptions like 'Have a nice flight' and the advertisements of some airlines. The smiles of the people on the signs were nearly entirely covered by the sprouting stalks of the _Cordyceps_ fungus. When the corridor split in two, Heero froze for a moment, unsure which way to choose. Both seemed dark and endless, but the one on the left seemed passable, as there was air coming from this direction, making the spores flow in the other direction. Then Heero also noticed a nearly faded inscription on the wall saying 'to the bus terminal.'

"This way," he whispered silently through the gas mask to Relena. "We have to move faster. This is the last stage, and we'll be outside."

Relena nodded and followed him through the darkness. They went straight for another couple of minutes until they reached a room with closed glass doors, which mysteriously survived the bombing. The door was closed with a metal chain. Due to the density of spores, the glass was covered with them and practically impermeable to light, but from behind the door came a soft, steady hum of rain pitchforks.

Heero walked over and tried to untie the chain, but it didn't dodge. "Of course. It's locked," he muttered through the mask. Then he looked around for something to break the chain. He directed his steps towards the neighboring room, once occupied by security.

"Heero."

He looked over his shoulder at Relena. She was standing in the middle of the room, her hands clenched at her chest, holding a gun.

"I don't like it here," she whispered, her voice distorted by the mask's filter.

"Wait here," Heero ordered as he turned his steps towards the second room. They had to act instead of worry; everything could be ruined in seconds.

When he later recalled the course of events, he couldn't understand what had gone wrong. He probably had done everything right. He had made no mistake. But what Duo had said to him was true.

_All it took was seven seconds_.

Right from the threshold of the room, a shrill scream lifted all the hair on Heero's neck, but it was too late and too improvise to dodge. The Runner already ran into him, ramming and pushing him sideways. At the last moment, Heero raised his elbow in a gesture of defense, blocking it around the mutant's neck. His jaw clenched several times in the air, spraying around his stinking saliva.

_One_.

The glass of the large window shattered under the impact of Heero's and the Runner's bodies, as they both fell to the ground outside the building. It seemed to Heero that somewhere in the loud crash of broken glass, he could hear Relena calling his name. Or maybe it just seemed to him. Heero felt shards of glass cut into his back and left arm. The monster's jaws were closing closer and closer to his throat, just above him.

_Two_.

The Runner moved his jaw away from his neck for a moment to inflict a fast, sharp blow with both hands on Heero's head. Heero had the impression that his skull cracked, the image before his eyes darkened, at first for a short moment, then the black curtain fell for a much longer instant.

_Three_.

Heero cursed in his mind, trying to stay conscious, although he couldn't hear anything because of the thunder of his blood pulsating in his temples. Protecting himself from the Runner with his left arm, he reached for the knife, but his body didn't follow his commands as quickly as he wanted. And the teeth were closer to his throat with each passing second.

_Four_.

The Runner's forehead exploded with blood from a massive gunshot wound as a bullet shot through it somewhere from behind. The mutant's body flexed and fell on top of Heero. Shaking himself from the blackout, Heero lifted himself on his shoulders, pushing away a stinking corpse. He looked up. Relena stood in the window through which he had fallen out, still holding her gun.

_Five_.

"Heero, are you okay?" her worried, but muffled voice finally reached to Heero. He could hear her through the rumbling of his pulse. He touched his temple feeling something hot and wet, attaching to his fingers. Then he looked up at Relena. It surprised him to notice that the darkness that had just blocked his vision, suddenly reappeared right behind Relena's silhouette.

Then that darkness let out a roar and lifted its claws just above Relena's head.

_Six_.

He screamed as loudly as he could. One word. Her name.

All blackouts disappeared, and all his visual acuity accumulated on her initially surprised and then terrified eyes when she fell to the ground under the infected's blow.

Out of Heero's sight.

_Seven_.

.

.

.

* * *

TBC


	16. Chapter 16 - The Teeth

**Chapter 16 - The Teeth**

He had never shouted out anyone's name so loud in his life. His scream resounded all over his head. Never before, in any of the life-threatening situations he had encountered, he hadn't lost his control like that, and his body hadn't worked on such an autopilot. His knees found their support. His hand tightened swiftly around the knife that he couldn't locate seconds before. His wounds, pieces of glass sticking out of his arm, ceased to matter at all. His feet bounced off the ground, leading him forward, like a bullet.

In a few seconds, Heero grabbed the Runner by its dirty, blood-streaked black hair and pulled hard towards him, bending its spine back, nearly breaking it. The infected let out a furious, deafening roar, flinging its arms around. With one swift move, Heero led the knife deep and across the Runner's neck, almost cutting off its loathsome head.

When the bleeding body turned limp and started slipping from his hands, Heero's eyes fogged for a moment. He caught his breath, his blood pulse still deafening him so hard he realized with terror that he couldn't hear _her_ screaming… or crying…

"Heero..."

His eyes followed the longed-for voice that eventually reached his conscience. Relena was lying on the ground, covered in the Runner's blood. Her beautiful oceanic eyes, glancing at him from behind the gas mask, were wide with terror.

But she was alive.

Heero pushed the Runner's corpse aside, then helped Relena get up and jump through the hole in the window.

"Run," he heard his voice as if those were someone else's words. He pulled the mask off Relena's face and pushed her forward, towards the runways, into the raging storm. He could hear another howls and shrieks from the inside of the terminal. "Don't stop running," he ordered, taking off his mask. "No matter what, don't stop running!"

x x x

Through the runway.

Over the fence.

Across the road.

Into the forest.

Forcing his body to the last effort, Heero didn't look around more than was necessary to be sure that they wouldn't run into another habitat of the infected. He felt a metallic taste of his blood in his mouth, the cold rain was soaking his clothes again. He kept brushing away blood that was still trickling from his forehead and shoulder. He felt no pain; he knew the pain was yet to come. Relena ran next to him, panting loudly, in silence.

Past the forest, they spotted a cottage settlement right on the bank of the Catawba River. They ran inside one of the smaller cabins. When Heero finally slammed the door shut behind them, Relena dropped on the wooden floor, breathing heavily, all wet.

Heero braced against the door with both hands, lowering his head loosely and catching his breath. A throbbing pain started to lurk in the back of his head and above his left temple. Blood from his forehead and hand, still with pieces of glass stuck in it, kept dripping on the dusty wooden floor, mixed with raindrops. The air was wheezing in his lungs, his throat got dry. He could hear the loud rumble of the storm on the roof. And Relena's breath, slowly evening out.

After a moment, he bounced his hands off the wall and walked over to the girl. She was still sitting on the ground, bent down, her arms wrapped around her shoulders.

"Are you all right?" Heero finally spoke out, hearing how hoarse his voice was.

Relena slowly opened her eyes, then tilted up her head at him. "I guess… so."

Blood was trickling down the side of her neck and from below her honey hair. _Well,_ Heero thought, _she had to hurt herself somewhere during the escape_.

"You're wounded," he said, pointing to her neck. Relena made a startled look at this remark, then touched the spot he pointed. "It doesn't look serious, but you should take care of that." He turned his back on her, retiring slowly to his corner of the room. He raised a hand to his forehead, sensing the open wound behind the hairline beating with heat.

"Oh, God...!"

Relena's soft, almost breathless whisper sounded more frightening and ominous than any howl of an infected person Heero had heard in his entire life. Much more than a roar of a thousand of them at the same time. Although she said nothing more, Heero immediately understood that their worst scenario had just become real.

When he slowly turned to face her again, he couldn't understand how he hadn't noticed earlier those teeth marks on the pale skin of her delicate neck. The wound was small but dreadful. Relena kept repeatedly wiping the spot with the palm of her hand, only helplessly rubbing the trickling blood along her throat. As if she wanted to wipe the mark off her skin or couldn't believe what had happened to her. Or worse, what it _meant_ for her. Her gaze was growing darker with horror with every passing second. Her breathing accelerated, as the realization of her fate struck her.

"No… No, no…" Relena whimpered, repeatedly, a distinguishable cry lurking at the back of her throat.

Then her eyes met his. Heero wasn't sure when or how it happened to her, but _hell_, it just happened. Relena was looking at him helplessly, every inch of her body and soul begging for help. But there was no help he could offer her.

"That's it," he heard himself muttering, though the truth didn't reach his brain just yet. "This is the end."

He slowly lifted his gun.

"No…!" Relena gasped, reaching out her hand to him as if she wanted to stop him. "Heero, don't do this-"

Her voice got muffed by her tears. She abruptly rose from her knees and made a step closer to him, reaching her hands out to him, tears trickling down her horrified pale face. She kept calling him by his name over and over again. Heero knew this voice would _haunt_ him forever.

"Stay away from me," he ordered, unable to hide a slight tremble in his voice.

What stopped her from making another step in his direction was the sound of the reloaded gun, aimed right at the center of her forehead. There she stood, like a deer, held at his gunpoint, her eyes widened with horror that awaited her. A horror that was now floating through every vein of her flesh, reaching every cell of her body, slowly robbing her of her _self_. Turning her into a bloodthirsty monster.

"One more step..." he gritted his teeth, "and I will kill you."

The look Relena gave him caused Heero to disgust himself for these words, but he didn't lower his gun, and he didn't take her eyes off her. She stood still, frowning at him in silence with terrified, incredulous eyes as if she couldn't believe what he intended to do to her. Although none of them said a word for a few long moments, the silence between them, full of their shallow breaths and wild heartbeat, rang louder than a thunderstorm that was still raging on the sky, high above their shelter.

Though his words sounded like a goodbye, eventually something in Relena's face suddenly calmed down, as if life resided in her eyes again. She took a deep breath and slowly pulled out her own gun from her jacket, placing it on the ground, then hammered it in Heero's direction. Next, she wordlessly took off her backpack and also surrendered it at Heero's feet.

"What the fuck you're doing?" Heero asked, watching her every move.

Relena spread her arms from side to side in the gesture of surrender.

"I can't hurt you," she declared. "In a few hours, I will lose my consciousness. Kill me then, Heero. Don't hesitate. But…" She made a pause, taking in another deep breath, trying to calm her trembling voice, staring at him over the barrel of his gun. "But… don't take these few hours away from me now. While I can _still_ feel. Listen. Speak. As long as I'm still human... I want to live."

Heero gritted his teeth, not letting any muscle on his face betray his hesitation. She surprised him. Not the first, but probably the last time.

"You're only holding up what's imminent, Relena," he stated coldly, slowly curling his finger on the trigger of his gun, clutching to the voice of reason that ordered him to mercifully end her suffering as soon as possible.

"That's _exactly_ what I'm doing," Relena lifted her chin a little, exposing her fatal wound. "I know that you'd be better off if I were dead. But all I'm asking you is just a few more hours of life. Can you give them to me?"

For the second time in his life, as if he was hallucinated, Heero couldn't look away. Her eyes didn't reflect despair anymore. Her look was gentle, sincere, calm. And eventually, she did something entirely unexpected: she smiled at him. With the humblest, saddest smile Heero had ever seen in his life and which he swore in his soul that he would never see again.

"Stay with me, Heero."

The lightning showed up in the window behind her, illuminating the room for a mere second, followed by a rumble of deafening thunder. Relena made a few steps back, leaning against the wall and slid down to the floor. Blood was still trickling down her neck, and she left a thin trace of it on the surface of the wall.

"And when the time comes… I want you to end this for me."

Heero felt a painful squeeze in his chest. This stubbornness, with which she clung to the fragile life that escaped through the wound on her slender neck with every passing second, was something that infuriated and relieved him simultaneously. He kept his finger on the trigger, just like he kept his gaze still on this innocent soul. Another convict wrongfully sentenced, who was now waiting on death row for the sentence to be executed.

And he was the executioner to execute this unjust judgment.

.

* * *

TBC

With this scene, the story reached the moment with which it started. But it doesn't end here.

I want to thank you for all your reviews so far, especially Lumpylumpia, Mistaken-Miracles, and Hellocat42! I read every one of your reviews carefully, and I'm glad that this story draws you in. I hope that the fate that awaits Heero and Relena will keep you in such high suspense, as so far. Thanks again for every word of support :)


	17. Chapter 17 - The Shooting Stars x

**Chapter 17 - The Shooting Stars**

_Relena POV_

_._

So far, dying didn't seem painful. At least not physically.

Living in the world that was slowly perishing of the infection and witnessing throughout the years the death of her close ones, as well as strangers, Relena came to terms with the possibility that she probably won't live to the old age. That made her often wonder what her final moments would look like. Would she simply close his eyes, resigned and reconciled, or would she writhe in convulsions, fighting for every breath? Would she suffer? And would somebody be there for her to say goodbye to?

She chuckled under her breath.

"What's so funny?"

Hearing his voice, she shrugged, although she understood his curiosity. It was rather uncommon for a dying person to laugh. "It's just…" she started, "I feel so relieved. I thought that you would shot me. Like you had killed that man in Baltimore."

Relena locked her gaze on a man sitting across the room in a safe distance from her, leaning his back against the plywood, shabby wall. He still held a gun in his hand, resting it casually on his bended knee. Moonlight reflected in his Prussian blue eyes that were focused on her. He remained silent.

"I don't think there's anything strange in that," Relena continued. "Since I'm infected, you should treat me like a deathly danger. There is no way you can help me. In a few hours, I will turn into one of those ravenous _things_. But I want to thank you for letting me live, for now."

She cast him a soft look, then glanced at the gun in his hand. She didn't want to remember that in a few hours, a bullet from _this_ gun will pierce through her brain, ending everything in a second. At the same time, she realized that though she won't be the one to pull the trigger, she was now in control of her death. And that calmed her down. She would die on her terms, killed by this man...

Indeed. Who was Heero Yuy for her?

A smuggler. A companion. A savior.

An executioner? No, definitely a savior. Once again, he would save her - by giving this nightmare a proper, dignified end. She hoped... no, she knew that Heero would keep his word. During all these months, he always did and never had hurt her. He won't leave her like that.

Relena peered at him; at his strong arms and manly hands, clearly defined shoulder line, slender legs, chocolate-brown hair… and those exceptional, cold eyes of his, that carefully guarded the secrets of his soul. For some inexplicable reason, she wanted to remember him thoroughly, with all these details - even those bloody ones.

"Your arm," she whispered, gazing at his wounds. "You must dress it. And your temple…"

Heero didn't even glance at his bloody hand. "I'll be alright."

_Of course_, she sighed. He will always be all right. He doesn't need anybody to help him, he will survive. With her gone, he would simply go back to the life he led before…

That made her remember something significant. A matter that shouldn't wait any longer to be solved.

"Heero, there's a favor I need to ask you," she said, her voice hesitant, "though I can't expect you to do that. You don't owe me anything. But this vaccine…" she pointed at her backpack, still lying on the floor several meters from her, right in the spot where she had kicked it, "although it's just a prototype, it probably can make the world normal again."

Heero frowned at the backpack, then moved in its direction and started to rumble through her things, taking out a small, glass vial enclosed on five sides by a metal case. There was a gray-red liquid inside. Relena watched him as he raised the object at his eye level, observing it, holding it in his hands for the first time. She realized that during their entire travel, he had never asked her more about the vaccine, never tried to see it, not to mention to use it. She remembered how surprised she was that he took her words for granted - those that the vaccine existed.

"When I'll be gone, there will be nobody to deliver it to those laboratories in Houston…" she continued, tilting her head. "Unless-"

"Use it."

She lifted her gaze at him, surprised. "You can try using it on yourself. It may still work on you," Heero said, looking into her eyes, holding the vial in his outstretched hand. "It may be not too late, Relena."

Relena involuntarily winced. Something's changed in the way Heero looked at her. His look was _almost_ begging. A natural will of surviving _almost_ made Relena jump at him and snatch the vaccine away from his outstretched hand. But when Heero placed a vial on the floor to roll it in Relena's direction, she let her chin drop against her chest in surrender.

"Don't, Heero," she muttered. "This thing can save thousands. I couldn't waste it on myself."

He narrowed his eyes at her words, though his cautious gaze never left her. "This is not a _waste_, Relena…"

"It would be!" she sent him a glare. "If this vaccine didn't exist, I would have been dead anyway, maybe latter maybe earlier. I would have died like a miserable rat in a narrow and stinking zone. But this vaccine lasted so long on purpose. It's a hope, Heero. A hope that soon no more sons or daughters like ourselves will lose their families. That there will be no more misery and fear. That's fair, that's something that's needed to be done..."

"That's just bullshit," she heard his hoarse voice as he bowed his head, dropping his gaze. "You're going to die with salvation in the reach of your hand. How is that supposed to be fair?"

A sudden, pungent pain struck Relena's heart as she frowned at this fearless man, who was now looking down, defeated, avoiding her gaze. She was the one dying, but suddenly she felt guilty; guilty of having wasted time she was given, guilty of having left unsaid so many words, guilty of not revealing her feelings… for this man. A tear run down her cheek; she'd done so much wrong. She was dying for it.

Relena gazed on Heero's hand that was clenching around the glass vial. _Death is going to be very painful for me after all_, she realized, remembering the touch of his fingers on her leg as he was pulling the leeches off her skin. Or when he shielded her with his body against the Clicker. And when those arms of his cradled her crying in her family's house… She realized with sadness and despair that she wouldn't feel his touch anymore. Though he was so close, she was already distant.

It was too late.

"It's _only_ my life," she whispered, barely controlling her shaky voice. "We've reached almost halfway now. I need you to finish what we began."

Heero didn't move back an inch, nor react in any discernible way. Relena braced slightly with her hands against the floor. "It's already hard for me, Heero. I beg you..."

After a moment that seemed like forever, without looking at her nor speaking a single word, Heero eventually inserted the vial into the breast pocket of his shirt and shifted back to his spot under the opposite wall. His eyes were still shrouded by a curtain of his messy chocolate hair, his mouth pursed, but he nodded his head.

Taking this as consent, Relena let out a sigh of relief and sank back against the wall, closing her eyes for an instant, controlling her tears. "I had a good life. I survived so long, traveled so far. I even got to see my family house again. I guess hardly anyone gets such a chance. It's all thanks to you."

Heero glanced slightly up, casting her a puzzled look, his eyes filled with some longing she couldn't read or guess. But she just smiled at him in return. "You're kind, Heero," she whispered, tucking her loose hair to mask her wound. "Don't change. But let yourself show some weakness too, at times. It's so human of you…"

Relena realized that if she even had looked into his eyes for a moment more, she would have lost the last crumbs of her shattered self-control. She looked away, gazing through a window. In the cloudless night sky, calmed after the terrible storm, a lonely shooting star flew. Relena found herself quietly delighted at this wonder of space.

"Oh, you know, Heero," she started, still gazing at the sky, "back at home, when I was little, I had a book about meteors and shooting stars. They're not precisely _stars_, but tiny bodies from outer space, which unfortunately fell into the Earth's atmosphere and burned there."

She knew him long enough to predict that he wouldn't answer anything to her words. Relena closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath.

"I just realized that what we see on the sky is the shining light of their last breath, as they cease to exist, burning down in the atmosphere. We witness the _death_ of the star. And yet, people believe that those shooting stars grant wishes…"

"The ancient Christians believed," she suddenly heard his voice, firm and calm, "that meteor symbolizes the soul's transition from the Purgatory to Heaven. So-called _salvation_. And if so, a meteor can take someone's wish straight to God."

Hearing these words, she opened her eyes and thought through what he said, smiling thoroughly after a second. "I see," she clasped her hands on her chest. "Do you think that if I made a wish when I see another star, God would listen to me?"

Heero seemed thinking for a moment about the answer. "I don't believe in God," she finally heard him. _Diplomatic_, she thought. _Better than_ '_don't count on it.'_

Relena looked up through the window at the night sky. She didn't have to wait long; after a while, another glistening spot appeared on the dark tablecloth of the space, sharply heading down towards Earth. It took her breath away at the moment.

"There comes a wish, then…" she announced, closing her eyes. She only had one wish, and she spelled it silently in her soul. She overcame a cry that lured at the bottom of her chest, a silent regret that she wasted her time. That he'll never know about this affection that she had for him.

Then the level of adrenaline in her body suddenly dropped. She felt drenched out of strength, even keeping eyes open seemed a superhuman effort.

So maybe it was a perfect time.

"I'm so tired, Heero," she whispered, opening her eyes again and gazing at him one last time. "I guess I'll go to sleep soon. I want to dream. And I don't intend to wake up."

Saying this, Relena slowly laid her body down on the floor, looking directly at the stars through the window above her.

"I don't blame you… for what happened," she continued, undecided whether she was actually still speaking to him or to herself. "I am grateful that I knew you, Heero. Shame it was so briefly… My only regret is that I wasn't able to see you smiling at me. I really _wished_ to…"

Relena had the impression that with each calmer breath, she slowly escaped from her body, far away from this world, towards the dark sky, into the reign of falling stars. Her body was slowly appropriated by sleep. She hoped that leaving Earth, she would bring not only her wishes to Heaven.

And that maybe, somehow… her last wish would be granted.

x x x

_Heero POV_

He kneeled inches from her, watching her body moving gently and peacefully in the rhythm of her slow breathing. He realized that those were her last breaths.

She was lying on her back, her one hand wrapped around her stomach, her face calm, lips slightly parted. The gold of her hair was spilled on the floor around her head, illuminated by the moonlight. She looked so vulnerable and innocent, sleeping as peacefully as she usually was during their journey. He got used to that view of her; it drew him to her at night like a wolf from the forest. It's been weeks; he'd watched her, always from a distance, so that she never knew. He didn't know what was making him do so; he just couldn't resist.

Since that evening in her home, when he held her so close, he couldn't forget the warmth of her body and the feeling of his silent admiration for her statuesque beauty. He didn't notice when she imperceptibly broke all the barriers he had built around himself for years. And now, having broken all these barriers, she was choosing to die when she could at least try to save herself.

_It just wasn't right._

_He failed to save her._

Powerless anger almost blinded him; he gritted his teeth. He glanced down on her, checking if she'd woken. But she was sleeping peacefully. He won't hear her voice again.

He thought he heard a noise outside and gazed over the window. It was already dawning. At least eight hours passed since Relena was bitten. On the last, navy-colored corner of the sky, he noticed a lighting point, speeding towards the Earth and then vanishing. He closed his eyes, making a silent wish of his own. A wish that he knew had no right to come true.

Then he hovered over her beautiful face with a gun in his grasp. He positioned the weapon above her temple, placed his finger on the trigger. Then he let his finger curl around the trigger. Again. The trigger started slowly backing away under pressure.

But then his body came to a halt.

Heero's heart and breathing stopped as if determined to obliterate themselves instead of obeying his mind and letting him pull the trigger. He was suffocating as if he fell into the cold water under the ice. His whole body hurt so profoundly as if all his bones crushed through the surface of his skin. His hand drifted slightly away from Relena's head; his mind was fighting his body, his whole existence was being torn apart. Over this innocent woman.

In a final attempt to regain his breathing, he let the gun fall to his side, swallowing a choking groan at the back of his throat. He didn't understand what was happening to him. Was he on the verge of losing control over his mind and body? Was he the one that got infected? Was he going crazy?

He couldn't kill her. He didn't want her to die. _Why?_

Heero reached for the glass vial from the pocket of his shirt. Relena didn't even flinch, sleeping peacefully, unaware of the struggle he was experiencing. Her beautiful honey hair was tangled around her neck. He looked at the vial and then reached with the barrel of his gun to gently brush her hair away from the bitten spot on her slim neck.

He held his breath at the view.

.

* * *

TBC


	18. Chapter 18 - The Sun and The Moon x

**Chapter 18 - The Sun and The Moon**

Heero slipped out on the porch soundlessly, closing the door behind him. He walked over to the wooden railing and stopped abruptly right in front of it, rubbing his face with both hands. He took a deep breath as if he emerged from a deep dive.

"…the fuck…?!" he groaned silently, then ran his hands up, through his hair, looking ahead of him, far in the west, where the night sky was losing the war against the light, disappearing behind the horizon. Turning sharply on his heel, he took a few steps towards the interior of the house, then returned to the porch again; he walked a couple of times back and forth across the porch, sending silent curses into the morning air.

He eventually leaned his back against the wall of the house, then slid to the floor. He looked absentmindedly down at his battered, injured hands. He clenched and unclenched his fists in silence.

What he had seen was so… unusual. Different from anything he saw before. He desperately searched his memory for a similar image from the past, a wound that looked similar to hers so many hours after the bite. His heart sped up as he couldn't remember seeing anything like that ever before.

He turned his head to the side, pressing his ear against the wall, trying to hear the slightest rustle coming from the inside of the house. He knew these frightening sounds all too well: first quiet moans, then wheezing, finally wailing at every shock of the body… But all he could hear was only a deafening silence.

He realized that he started having goosebumps on his bare forearms, and he wished they were just due to the morning chill. He pulled the remaining strip of the bandage out of his pocket and holding its one end in his teeth, he started tying it around the wounded hand. He kept his gaze locked far ahead of him, observing the rising sun reflecting in the waves of the lazily flowing river.

It was _impossible_. But hell, he saw it with his own eyes. Though he couldn't explain it, though she shouldn't look _this way this long_ after the bite, he wasn't losing his senses either.

Heero deliberately tightened the bandage way too hard around his hand, even letting out a silent groan of pain. He didn't believe in miracles: nobody survived the infection. Relena's body was simply defending itself much longer. That was the only possible explanation.

She will last longer, her slow death will only cause more suffering for her and him. Because he simply couldn't end her life now and here.

Either way… the next few hours will be crucial. All he could do was wait, not letting any false hope germinate in his consciousness.

_It's better to live without any hope at all than live by a false one_.

x x x

_Relena POV_

_._

Something was clearly wrong.

Her eyelids were stinging from the inside. She sensed a ray of an intense light that was warming up her entire body as if she was sitting by the fireplace. Were they the fires of hell, or was she approaching the sun in heaven?

Relena lazily opened her eyes, but the light blinded her. She raised her hand and covered her eyes, recognizing the morning light. The contours of the surrounding reality slowly reached her conscience as she blinked, trying to fight the remnants of sleep. She was lying in the same spot on the wooden floor of the cabin where last night she had bidden goodbye to her earthly life. When she moved to a sitting position, she looked down on her body, noticing a familiar jeans jacket spread on top of her. Its smell was so familiar and comforting.

"Heero...?" she gasped absentmindedly, unable to comprehend what was happening. What reason could he have to cover a dead body with his own jacket? Or an infected person?

Relena instinctively reached the side of her neck and slowly traced the shape of the wound with her fingers. She could feel the hard surface of a slowly-forming scab. The spot didn't burn or hurt, blood already dried out on her neck, hair, and shirt. She touched the whole nip with her palm, feeling the slow pulsing of her blood under the skin. She was unsure what to expect and what the wound should look like now. Then she looked down at her hands, her chest and legs; there was nothing unusual in her body. No rash nor redness. She didn't feel any pain, her vision was clear and sharp as always. She was only unbelievably hungry; she hoped it wasn't a symptom.

At least twelve hours had to pass since she had been bitten…

Relena looked around. The cabin was empty, her backpack was still laying on the floor, and there was no sign of Heero. She felt fear rising in her chest. She crawled closer to her backpack and rifled through it. The vaccine and her gun were gone. And she was out of any supplies.

"Heero?" she called for him, louder this time, slowly getting on her feet, but only silence answered her. She left her backpack on the floor, wrapped Heero's jacket around her shoulders, and walked to the main door to the cabin.

The day that welcomed her outside was sunny and bright, the air was fresh and clear after the storm. Their cabin was standing among a group of other, very similar small houses. At the end on the road that led to their cabin Relena could see a wall of the forest, and far behind it had to be that hellish airport.

"Heero!" Relena called for him once more, looking around. Her voice trembled, she felt panic rising in her chest. Did he just leave her here alone? Did he break his promise? Relena let go of the wooden door and ran down the steps on to the grass. She whipped her head repeatedly, looking for any sign of his presence. "Heero-"

Her voice broke when she suddenly spotted him. He was behind her, sitting at the top of the wooden stairs leading to the cabin's open porch, to the right of the door she just came through. He was in his gray t-shirt, his hair seemed more disheveled than usual, his face tired and light shadows circled his sharp, Prussian-blue eyes. His injured hand was already bandaged, but he still had blood on his temple. He looked exhausted but alert. Relena realized that he probably had to stay awake the entire night.

"Heero... Thank God you're here…" she gasped, relieved, and inexplicably happy to see him again. But when she made a step in his direction, he lifted his gun.

"Don't come closer."

Relena shot her hands up in a gesture of surrender and stopped. "All right, ok..." she said reassuringly, though she couldn't contain her joy of seeing him again. As if fate was playing her prank. She bid him goodbye yesterday, just like she did to everything she knew, everything she wanted, everything she wished for, and what had no longer right to come true - although was spoken during the last flight of a shooting star. "I was afraid that-"

"Show _it_ to me," Heero grunted, interrupting her.

Relena blinked, quickly realizing what he had in mind. She brushed her golden hair from the side of her neck, tilting her head a little to the side to expose the wound. From the corner of her eye, she could see Heero studying the bitten spot from afar. "What's going on?"

"…Fourteen hours passed since you were bitten. The wound is still clear. You didn't develop redness, it stopped bleeding, there are no neurological symptoms by far," Heero analyzed aloud. The confidence with which he spoke made Relena realize that he had to see wounds of other people before they turned; probably a lot of them.

The feeling of prolonging uncertainty took her breath away, she felt her stomach tighten with nervousness. "What does that mean…?"

She noticed a sudden but fleeting emotion that flickered in his steely gaze, then he dropped his gaze. "I don't know," Heero muttered. "But the virus sometimes needs almost two days to develop its stage one."

Hearing this terrifying news, Relena swallowed, desperately trying to regain her composure. "Two days… So it still doesn't mean I'm going to live?"

Heero looked up at her, his eyes still and emotionless. Relena searched his face for any sign of hope, but his eyes dimmed behind the veil of surrender. "_Nobody_ lived being bitten by the infected."

Hearing his words, that mercilessly tore the last hope from her, Relena's heart stopped for a moment. His words chilled her blood as if a bucket of icy water was suddenly poured on her body. She wasn't stupid; deep inside, she expected him to say those words. It was her mind that was desperately trying to hide the harsh truth from her to keep her alive. But what hurt her the most was the look of surrender she saw in his eyes. Relena felt her knees buckling under her, and she slumped helplessly on the grass.

"Heero, this is a nightmare..." She wasn't trying to stop tears that escaped her eyes anymore. Her heart ached so much that her chest tightened, hampering her breathing. What had she done to suffer such torment?

Her eyes flung open again, and she glanced up at the man sitting on the porch. He didn't aim at her anymore, his hand with a gun was resting on his thigh. "I'd rather not wake up today!" Relena cried suddenly, her voice full of anger and remorse. "If there's no hope for me, then why you didn't shoot me while I was asleep?! Why, Heero Yuy!?"

Facing her outburst, Heero frowned at her, his expression darkened, but he didn't say anything. That only hurt her more.

"Do you enjoy watching me like this?" Relena cried at him. She clenched her fists on the tufts of dry grass and pulled them out of the ground, throwing them in his direction in anger. "You're gonna keep me at gunpoint to the last second of my life? It pleases you, looking at my powerlessness? At my slowly dying? At me, being at your fucking mercy? Does it turn you on?!"

Though he didn't say a single word at those accusations, so infamous and unbearable for a man, his pupils widened despite the sunny day. He eyed her the same way he did when they fled through the shopping center a few months ago; when she called him a murderer. Something about this look of his was so overwhelming that it almost made her unable to speak.

"Why… why you didn't kill me, Heero!?" she cried at him again, tears running down her cheeks.

Her cry hung in the air, but he still didn't say any word, now peering at her with a somehow distant look, from behind the curtain of his long bangs. Relena sighed deeply in surrender, catching her lost breath, letting her hands fall to the ground, her chin dropped to her chest.

"If you still want me to live…" she began after a moment, sensing that in a second she will pass out of hunger, "then give me something to eat. Unless you want me to die of starvation before I turn. I have no supplies left."

She didn't look up to see his reaction, but she heard him rifling through his backpack. He got a pear from the inside and threw it to her. Having caught the fruit, Relena instantly started to eat. They sat like that in silence, feeling almost tangibly the presence of death in a world that continued relentlessly.

"What now?" Relena asked as she calmed down her first hunger. The cruel reality began to creep into her consciousness again. She could feel the fear slowly consuming her, and this feeling of powerlessness frustrated her. "Will you leave me here? Or will we sit here and wait for me to turn?"

Heero's gaze became absent and cold again. Relena thought she guessed the answer.

"I don't want to see when you'll be doing _it_," she whispered, straightening up in all her dignity. "I could hate you then, in that final moment. And I don't want to..."

"I won't leave you," Heero suddenly interrupted her with his firm but calm tone. "And I'll keep my promise."

Their eyes locked onto themselves, neither of them could look away. The wording of this terrifying oath unexpectedly soothed Relena's trembling heart, sealing the final hours of her conscious life and her death. Though it was her to part with this world, her worst nightmare won't come true. She won't pass away abandoned.

x x x

The world continued relentlessly. Morning soon turned into day and day into night. Relena wasn't sure why she owed the long time she was given. However, when the evening came, she felt that her mouth was slowly drying out.

"…after that, Milliardo got angry and forbid me to enter his room. He considered himself almost an adult, and yet he was the same child like me. But I couldn't resist, I still found a way to tease him…"

She chuckled merrily and glanced at Heero. He was sitting on his spot under the wall in silence, listening to her subsequent stories and memories, without interrupting or commenting. He seemed a good listener, and Relena liked to peer at those blue, watchful eyes, from time to time. There was a stillness in them that gave her comfort. Somehow.

"I also remember that my parents were organizing those big, charity balls," she continued with another memory from her past. "I was lucky enough to see only one such ball with my own eyes. It was just before the outbreak; I was six years old. I remember dancing the waltz with my father at the time... oh well… _'dancing'_ might seem to be an exaggeration. He just held me in his arms, and we swayed to the music. Now when I think about it, I understand how childish it was... I told my dad that I loved him and that I'll be dancing with him to the end of my life. He laughed and said that he will dance with me for now, and always when I would want it. But one day I will meet someone… and then I would only want to dance the waltz with this man." Relena chuckled under her breath, recalling a pleasant memory. "I cried like crazy, hearing that. I thought dad was mean because he wanted me to dance with someone else instead of him…"

Relena took a deep breath. _Now it's all over_, she thought. _There will be no more sumptuous balls, no one will dance anymore_. She looked up at her silent companion. "Heero, don't you have any joyful memories? Wouldn't you like to tell me about them?"

He blinked as if he was contemplating her demand. Relena took it as a good sign and didn't give in. "Come on. I don't think I'll live long enough to tell anybody. I'd love to know something about you."

Heero looked away. "Why?"

"You've asked me this before," Relena smiled sadly. "I just…" she searched for the right words to say. "I guess life has been harsh for you, inexplicably much more than for me… It's not a sheer curiosity. You've been the closest person to me for the last months, plus you saved me countless times. And yet… I know so little about you."

He made a sigh, then glanced at her. "What do you want to know?"

At first, Relena couldn't believe her fortune. Did she finally succeed? Realizing the opportunity, she almost forgot how to speak.

"What happened to your family? When we were in Baltimore," she began shyly, suddenly losing confidence, "you said it was your foster father who taught you how to survive. Who is he? And do you know your true father?"

Heero dropped his gaze and spoke again after a moment of silence. "Since I remember, it was only my mother and me. She was killed by the infected on the first day of the outbreak. This man whom I call 'father' saved me and took care of me then."

He paused, but Relena didn't think of rushing him or interfering with anything, realizing her worst premonitions about this man's past were accurate. However, when he didn't continue, she decided to speak. "…where is he now?"

Heero shrugged slightly. "He was a smuggler. One day he went for a job, and things went south."

Relena felt compassion fill her heart. For the last hours she talked only about herself, her family, about her adventures as a child... about her home. She had a home that she remembered well. A childhood. She was lucky that her father lived for many years after the outbreak day.

She was never alone, whereas Heero was on his own for the most part of his life. First, as a half-orphan, then an orphan. He had to experience terrible things that Relena just couldn't imagine. He witnessed the death of his close ones. Suddenly, all his nightmares, that he struggled with during his nights made sense.

Relena suddenly wished that she could bring joy to his life that he hadn't experienced as much, as he deserved. It was no longer just a wish to see the smile on his face. She wanted him to be _happy_, even for a moment enjoy the fact that he was still alive… But she didn't have time to do it.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I wanted to bring up only your good memories. I didn't know…"

"You don't have to be sorry," Heero murmured indifferently, then made a shrug. "I almost don't remember what my life looked like before the outbreak. I don't have so many good memories as you do."

"Heero," Relena gasped. "I didn't mean... I'm sorry, I'm such a chatterbox…"

"Stop being sorry all the time," he suddenly interrupted her, but his voice remained calm. He frowned at her narrowly. "Why are you still apologizing to me for everything?"

"It's because I don't want to hurt you."

Heero looked at her with tired eyes full of surprise and confusion. As if she spoke to him in a foreign language. "I don't get you," he finally stated, lowering his head. "It's you who's dying. I'm staying here. And yet..."

Relea thought about his words for a moment. "I don't blame anyone. Especially you." She sent him a reassuring glance. "I can only blame myself that I didn't use wisely the time I got to spend with you. Now I regret it, Heero... You just can't imagine how much."

They were less than 4 meters away from each other throughout the day. In the morning, Heero seemed distant, as if they were separated by a several meters thick wall. Now, though the distance between them didn't change physically, Relena felt a pleasant warmth in her chest, as if she was cradled in his arms.

"Relena…" Heero reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a vial of vaccine. "It's still not too late..."

But she was determined. She shook her head, refusing to take the rescue. It seemed easier than the day before. All curtains fell from her eyes. She finally knew what she wanted.

"No, Heero. I know my decision is right. This vaccine can give back to _you_ the world that had been taken away from you. A world where you could live in peace. You deserve it. And this is the only thing I can do for you. A ' thank you' for everything that you did for me." Her cerulean eyes met his Prussian-blue orbs. "Promise me you'll reach Houston… Survive this hell."

.

* * *

TBC

Will Relena live, or will Heero continue living without her…?

You'll find out in the next chapter.


	19. Chapter 19 - The Morning x

**Chapter 19 - The Morning**

Relena didn't notice when she had fallen asleep that night. She simply drifted off, absent-mindedly, without any word of farewell spoken to Heero, unlike the night before. When she opened her eyes again, she quickly realized that she was still alive. As a human. Nothing was hurting her, she almost felt well-rested, like on a lazy Sunday morning. Her mind was clear, she could move her body freely, according to her wish.

She slowly sat on the floor. The sun was rising from beyond the horizon, behind the forest line, brightening the sky with a pink and white glow. Another beautiful, sunny day was about to start. The soft light from the outside illuminated the air in their cabin, making the dust shimmer in the rays of the sun.

Relena turned around, holding her breath at a view: this time, Heero was there. He was sitting propped up against the wall at the other side of the room. His chin was dropped to his chest, the slender fingers of his right hand loosely holding the butt of his gun. His eyes were closed, his chest moving slowly to the rhythm of his calm, rhythmic breath.

_He fell asleep_. Relena realized that it shouldn't be so surprising, given that he didn't sleep at all for those two days and nights since she was bitten, and he didn't get a regenerating sleep the night before either because of his nightmares. But, at the same time, who would have thought, that this cautious and fearless man will fall asleep next to her, when she could turn into a zombie anytime. She found something peaceful and appealing in that view of him. She didn't want to tear it down. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him sleeping so peacefully; when he wasn't tormented by nightmares, he wasn't mumbling in his sleep, he didn't clench his fists.

Led by some strange instinct, Relena slowly moved on all fours towards him, making as little noise as possible. As she approached him, she could hear his calm, low, prolonged breathing. She sat down next to him, taking the opportunity to look at him closely. Earlier, when she watched him during his nightmares, she found herself staring at his chest, his hands, arms, shoulders, neck, face... He attracted her, even now. She admired his face, his statuesque but visibly tired features, his closed eyes, partially hidden behind a curtain of brown hair. There was a dry trace of a trickle of blood on his temple, from a wound he didn't dress up. Looking at him, when he was so peaceful and beautiful, made her feel a warm, stinging feeling in her heart.

She wasn't sure if it was her conscious decision to touch him or if her hand acted on its own. She let her fingers brush the barrier of his brown bangs on his temple then slip behind the curtain of hair, resting on the pleasantly warm skin of his face, then slid down over his temple and cheek…

The last thing she saw before she got knocked down to the floor was his Prussian-blue eyes flinging open.

She let out a strangled cry and shut her eyes at the impact when the back of her head hit the wooden floor with a thud, though the hit wasn't hard enough for her to lose conscience. She sensed a cold touch of metal under her jaw.

She slowly reopened her eyes. Her left hand was immobilized, pressed to the floor over her head. Heero glowered at her, eyeing her with that most frightening, murderous look. Relena blinked, feeling her heart hurt, incapable of bearing that look of his.

"Heero..." she called him beggingly as loud as the barrel of his gun jamming under her chin allowed her to.

When he heard her voice, his eyes momentarily darkened, then his gaze gradually softened as if he was beginning to understand what was happening.

"Relena…?" he finally said with his hoarse, quiet voice. "Is it still _you_…?"

She looked deep into his steely eyes, trying to calm her scared, panicked heartbeat. She felt the weight of his firm body on her as he was pressing her to the floor, immobilizing her, physically and mentally. "It's me," she whispered. The murderous flash in his gaze got replaced by surprise. She felt the pressure of the gun's barrel on her skin reducing.

"It's impossible…" Heero gasped, still studying her face. He stared at her as if he was emerged in a drunken stupor, his breath coming shakily. Relena felt the clasp of his fingers tightening around her left wrist, pinning it even harder against the floor.

"It's _me…_" Relena repeated, slowly lifting her free hand, trying hard to prevent it from shaking. She carefully brought it closer to his face again. "I'm right here, Heero..."

Her fingers trailed the hot skin of his cheek, slowly sliding toward the clearly defined line of his jaw and neck. Then she lifted her hand again, gently and patiently caressing the same spots. She could feel the blood pulsing under her fingers as she tried to reassure him that she was still alive.

Heero eventually moved his gun to the side of her neck. Relena felt the touch of metal sliding across her wound as he brushed strands of her hair aside. She peered at him as he frowned at the bitten spot on her neck and then shifted his startled gaze at her.

"It's _healing_," he said, his voice a little bit breathless. "It's impossible, but it's actually healing…"

His hand finally released her wrist, and he got off her, letting her get up. Relena followed suit, sitting on the floor in front of him, clenching her hands to her chest. "Does that mean…?" she asked, although she was scared to hear the answer. Terrified of being deprived of hope once again, like the day before.

But then, Heero looked at her with a totally different gaze in his eyes. The one she didn't see ever before. "You would have been turned by now. You don't have _any_ symptoms."

This could mean only one thing. An _impossible_ one.

Relena clasped her both hands over her mouth as the realization struck her. "Oh God…!," she cried with a muffled voice, feeling her eyes burn with hot tears. Her voice broke, her body trembled of successive waves of cry. She let out a loud breath from her lugs, a subconscious sigh that she had trapped inside her chest for the last two days because it was supposed to be her last breath. And when she inhaled the air back, she broke down. The force of her cry made her bent over at the waist, clutching her hands to her chest. She rested her forehead on her thighs, sobbing, wheezing, almost losing her breath.

Then she heard the clang of the weapon being laid to the ground. A second later, Heero's hands grabbed her firmly by her shoulders and brought her back to the vertical position, then he gently enfolded her in his arms. She let him pull her shaking body close to him, and she supinely sunk in his warm embrace, inhaling his comforting, manly scent. Realizing how much she needed this physical contact, she clung desperately to him, pressing her face to his chest, her tears soaking his clothes.

Heero didn't say anything, cradling her in his arms until she cried out the last bitter tear.

x x x

_Heero POV_

_._

"This would do," Heero stated, having finished covering the wound on her neck with plaster. The wound was healing so correctly that there was hardly any need to tape it up, but there were other reasons. "You shouldn't show it to anyone. Nobody will believe you."

Relena touched her neck and sent him a reassuring look.

Heero wasn't sure if he was still a little bit shocked by what happened. Or rather, what didn't happen. She was sitting in front of him, smiling, her eyes calm, relieved, although still a bit swollen from the tears she cried.

She was still Relena.

He aimed at her with a gun, not just now, but numerous times. He _almost_ killed her this very morning, in nearly the same spot they were sitting right now. She had escaped death not only from his hands but also from the hands of the disease. That's why when he reached his hand out to hug her, to comfort her, he was convinced that she would reject him.

But she didn't.

Now he reached out his hand again. Relena didn't flinch nor backed away when his fingers feathered against her chin.

"Why aren't you afraid?"

…_of me?_

Relena's gaze drifted somewhere beyond him for a short moment, then fixed on him again as if she was trying to communicate something to him, wordlessly. "…you don't realize?"

Heero had a feeling, a silent premonition, but he couldn't spell it out. This exceptional woman confused him, deprived him of common sense and self-control, made him feel doubtful over and over again. He was about to reject his hand when Relena clasped her fingers around it and pressed against her cheek.

"Call me mad," she whispered, leaning into his palm, "but when I woke up yesterday, and you weren't in a cabin, I thought you had left me. The thought of not having you near me anymore was way more terrifying than when you were aiming at me."

He didn't say anything, studying her features. In normal circumstances, he would presumably call her mad for wanting to be around the man who promised to kill her. But he couldn't call himself a sane person anymore. Not while he didn't have power over his own body, that refused to obey his mind that fateful night. He wasn't anymore in a position to judge her.

"Why you didn't shot me that first night, Heero? It was obvious that I'd turn. What had stopped you?"

Relena's soft voice tore him out of his thoughts and turned again into confusion, evoking back the memory of that night. As if she could read his mind. He prayed that she won't ask him how many times he wanted to use the vaccine on her, even without her consent.

"We need to go," he finally spoke, gripping her hand in his and helping her get on her feet.

Relena sent him a puzzled look, but he resisted it. _One day I'll tell you_, he said in his thoughts.

When they left the cabin, they were greeted by a beautiful hot summer day. Everything around seemed to radiate with light and bright colors. There was a smell of blooming flowers in the air, birds sang above their heads.

"It's so beautiful!" he heard her sweet voice behind his back. Relena ran down the stairs to the grass and around their cabin, then called to him: "The river! I didn't see it before!"

Heero sighed. He looked at that river the morning before. When he noticed the state of her wound but at the same time couldn't stand the thought of having yet to watch her body begin to undergo endless seizures, drooling, her blue eyes inverted. Waiting for this moment, he was sitting on the porch, looking at the day rising on the river. And suddenly, she came out of the cabin, calling his name. Alive. Just as she was now, running towards the bank of the river.

"Relena," he called her, but she wouldn't stop. So he followed her.

She ran so crazy for the last time when she spotted her family home. As if she suddenly got wings. She quickly passed by other summer houses, reaching the remains of a wooden pier on the river bank. There she stopped just to take off her shoes, then ran barefoot into the water, splashing it around. She laughed so loudly that she frightened the ducks family resting on the shore and two swans that jumped to the other side of the pier. These animals probably haven't seen a human here in years. And especially such a loudly laughing one.

Heero reached the shore, stopping at the waterline. Relena turned to him, a beautiful, cheerful smile painted on her lips. "I'm alive, Heero!" she laughed, dipping her hands in the water and splashing around. "It's so beautiful, how can I not enjoy it? I don't want to waste any moment more to feel alive. I don't want to regret anything…"

She let out another loud, carefree laugh, as she raised her hands and sprayed water on her face, neck, and shoulders. Her shiny cerulean like a sky eyes disappeared behind the curtain of slightly damp fringe and long eyelashes, her lips parted in an everlasting smile. Her whole body glistened in the sun and drops of water as if she was almost semi-transparent.

She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He wouldn't mind looking at her like that for eternity. Never turning his eyes off her, Heero crossed his arms over his chest and let a slight smile form on his lips.

Then Relena suddenly turned to face him and shot him a shocked look. A smile instantly escaped his face, he raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. "What?"

Relena clenched her hands to her chest and smiled. "You were right about the shooting stars. They do grant wishes."

Heero's heart gave a sudden thump at her words. He didn't fully realize what did she actually meant, but he felt letting his guard down completely. Maybe, she disarmed him with her smile. Or maybe_,_ it was a sudden realization that _his_ wish was granted too.

He wasn't sure. He didn't care anymore. Feelings he had never felt before, and that he couldn't name, now were biting his skin to the flesh.

Heero got into the river without taking off his shoes and stopped in front of her. He reached up and cupped her face between his hands, tilting her head slightly back. He brushed a waterdrop with his thumb smoothly along her cheek, gazing at her, admiring her soft and gorgeous features. Relena didn't move away, her oceanic gaze locked on him; she seemed breathless when suddenly her lips silently - _hurriedly_ \- whispered his name. The way she looked at him and the sound of his name in her mouth made him feel a familiar urge; his body wanted to feel her _closer_ so much that a physical ache started swelling his chest. Unable to hold the feeling any longer, Heero leaned in and pressed a featherlight soft kiss on her mouth.

The touch of her lips was charmingly soft and warm, yet he felt her body shiver at the contact; it almost convinced him that he had to misread her... He drew back, but then Relena slipped her delicate arms around his neck, pulling herself closer to him. She was so close to him that he could feel her heart thudding against his chest. Heero cradled the back of her neck, then crushed their lips together again, hearing Relena let out a soft, airy whimper. He let his hand wander down, encircling her ribs and drawing her into a firm embrace. As their kiss grew deeper and more passionate, Heero savored her taste, her smell, the warmth of her body preheated by the summer sun. He felt Relena's hands raking through his thick hair, and her lips responded to his touch as she started kissing him even more insistently and fiercely. Her little body was fragile and slender in his arms, like a branchlet that he could easily break if he wanted to. The touch of her delicate form under his fingers made him silently wonder just how perfectly she fitted to him.

And how much he was thankful that she was alive.

When their lips parted, and they gasped slightly for air, Heero locked his gaze on her, relishing the view in front of him. Her alluring cerulean eyes were glistering, her mouth still reddened from their contact, waterdrops were lingering on her eyelashes. Or maybe they were her tears...

"Heero…" Relena suddenly gasped, showing him her soft smile again. "I…"

"Relena," he interrupted her, brushing a strand of her honey hair off her face and resting his hand on her cheek again. She looked at him expectantly, her chest rising and falling in the rhythm of her breaths. She was so beautiful. "You asked me about my good memories…"

She sent him a confused expression but then nodded. "I remember that," she answered, resting her hands on his firm chest.

"I don't have many. But _this_ will be the first in years."

.

* * *

TBC

Love, love, love! There will be only more love from now on !

I want to thank one more time to my dearest readers: Mistaken-Miracles, Lumpylumpia, and Hellocat42! It is your support that gives me the energy to pore over the next chapters, refining them endlessly to perfection - to present you the best work I can do. Thank you :)


	20. Chapter 20 - The Childhood x

**Chapter 20 - The Childhood**

_It was the silence that woke him from his sleep. The deathly silence, that was louder than chaos. _

_The day outside was miserable and cloudy; hardly any sunlight reached Earth through the dome of black smoke of the burning city. He peered through the windows of the car, slowly opened the door on the driver's side, then crawled out of the vehicle. _

_At first, he was worried that he had lost the ability to see colors. Everything around him was black and white. He wondered if he would ever get over it._

_He recognized the area with difficulty. The buildings around him, in which his kindergarten friends lived, were still smoking, abandoned cars on the nearby street were still burning. There was a park with swings nearby, but it was a black, scorched surface now. People were lying on the streets, unmoving. He was in a ghost city. All alone. Even that strange man that locked him in that car wasn't anywhere around... _

_He felt fear taking his breath away at the memory of a night that had just ended. He had to find her. She might need his help, and he escaped. He promised that he would protect her. He clenched his eyes and small fists, swallowed his tears. _

"_How are you holdin' up, kid?"_

_Heero froze at those words. He recognized that voice, followed by a sound of heavy footsteps approaching him from the back. "I told you that I will be back for you. Did any of them bite you?"_

_Heero didn't turn to face the man. The memory of terrible, gaping jaws that had bit into his mother's neck came back with its full resemblance in his mind. He shut his eyes, trying to chase it away, but it wouldn't disappear. He shook his head in response. _

"_Then you're still alive," the sound of footsteps encircled him, and then his savior crouched in front of him. "Now, you have a choice. You can use that chance given to you and live a little bit longer. Or you can give up and die very soon."_

_Heero looked up. The man's face was a bit unshaved, and he frowned at him with accipitral, emotionless green eyes, partly veiled by a curtain of dark brown hair. Those confident, disturbing eyes pierced him. Heero felt fear and respect for this man at the same time, but he didn't show it. That wasn't what he was taught. He clenched his fists._

"_I don't care what happens to me," he replied as confidently as he could, holding his gaze, "my mom was attacked... I have to find her."_

_The man's eyes darkened. _

"_Your mother is dead, kid. She's gone. You can mourn her by dying or continue living. I thought you didn't deserve to die, so I saved you. Thinking of it now, I could have been wrong. A quick death would spare you the suffering that this miserable life of ours will be full from now on." He rose up from his knees. "You can come with me or stay here, looking for what's left of your mother. If there is any left. It's your choice."_

_The man passed him, moving away in the direction he came from. His steps were silencing, getting further and further away. _

_Soon they were accompanied by the quieter rustle of the second pair of feet._

x x x

_June, one and a half week later_

_._

Cold metal parts of his gun fitted Heero's fingers as if he had made them himself. He glanced up at the horizon. He had half an hour before the sun would disappear, and darkness would fall. Either way, he could easily clean the weapon and reassemble it even in the dark. Having done it countless times before, just like _he_ taught him, he learned to do this by heart.

The evening breeze soothed his body after a hot, steamy day. The march was much more difficult in such weather, although he was accustomed to many inconveniences. Heero let his eyes close for a moment and drew a deep breath, recognizing the smells of the surrounding fields.

When he opened his eyes again, the sun was just coming down in between two skyscrapers still standing in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The globe was golden-colored, making the buildings look dark and ominous, an omen of another sweltering summer day to come after the night. Heero remembered seeing a similar view when he was a child. The only difference was that before the outbreak life was residing in cities; there were lights in the buildings, noises of the traffic, even the smog over the streets. Now Atlanta looked like an empty shell.

His eyes drifted downcast again, resting on disassembled metal parts scattered on a material of a spare T-shirt sprawled on his lap. He realized that he neglected his gun recently; it really could use a thorough cleaning. He couldn't afford not being able to rely on this weapon. He had to be prepared. In every moment. Especially now.

He shifted slightly, propping his back comfortably against the tire of the abandoned camper and continued to polish the barrel. When he moved his legs, several grasshoppers jumped in the air from the high grass around him. Fireflies started to float lazily from the nearest bushes. Nature around him was silencing in this magical moment of dusk.

"Heero!"

He glanced up at the sound of a cheerful, gentle voice calling his name. Relena descended the stairs from inside the camper and jumped onto the grass. Her gracious movements scared away another group of grasshoppers that jumped in different directions. She was barefoot and wore a loose checkered shirt. "Look what I found."

She walked over to him and installed herself comfortably on the grass right next to him. Heero took a quick peek at the object she held in her hand, and shrugged, never stopping the cleaning of his gun. "A book?"

Relena snorted disapprovingly. "Don't tell me this doesn't ring you a bell!" She flipped it through, and then Heero noticed it was a comic book. One about the giant space robots, the same as those on the posters hanging in one of the rooms of Relena's former home. Heero shrugged, his gaze concentrating again on his gun as he pushed the barrel inside the slide. Relena threw him an incredulous glare.

"Heero, even I remember this comic, and I am a girl!"

"I didn't say that I don't remember," he muttered, assembling the rest of the gun with a few quick, loud clicks.

Relena smiled widely. "Did you ever dream that you were such a warrior in a robot suit?"

Heero lifted the gun at the line of his eyes, aiming somewhere in the distance. "I was never a fan of those things," he muttered, pulling the trigger. The gun clicked, and he quickly reloaded it and repeatedly shot with an empty barrel. Having checked the mechanics, he put off the empty weapon and started filling the magazine with the ammo.

"Well, Milliardo was absolutely crazy about this comic," Relena sighed, leaning her back against the tire and crossing her bent legs, one of her bare feet brushing his knee. She opened the comic book again, resting it on her thighs and frowned at the drawings. "He also dreamed that he would become a cosmonaut and would build the first space colony, like in this story, when there would be too many people to live on Earth," her voice stopped for a moment. "Who would have thought back then that in such a short time, mankind would be almost wiped off the face of the earth. Partly at its own request..."

Heero listened to her quietly, but didn't say anything, then clicked the magazine back into the gun.

"What did you want to be when you were a kid, Heero?"

He glanced at her surreptitiously. His childhood was so short, broken so unexpectedly, and irrevocably that he couldn't instantly brush up on that particular memory. But this time, he didn't feel annoyance like before when Duo asked him this type of question. Or like she did it earlier. To his surprise, it wasn't unpleasant. He sighed silently then let his eyes wander somewhere up on the skyline. "A pilot, I guess."

Relena nodded her head in understanding. "That somehow suits you," she said, leaning her chin on her bent knees and gazing at him. "Have you ever flown by plane?"

"Once. When I flew with my mother from Japan to the States. About half a year before the outbreak."

"I see," Relena raised her eyebrows in surprise, then sent him a broad smile. "Did you like it? The flight?"

Heero slipped his gun behind his belt, then wiped his hands in his T-shirt. He was actually surprised how well he remembered that long, over 12-hour flight. Even after all these years.

"The Earth was so different when seen from the air. Just like people, buildings, continents, seas were small and distant, so these small human matters suddenly ceased to have such significance. I had this idea that if I became a pilot, I could fly to _any_ place on Earth. That I could go anywhere, whenever I wanted." He paused for a second, recalling the memory of a view he saw through the window of a plane: a rising sun appearing slowly from behind the curve of the surface of the planet and enveloping the sky with golden rays. "I liked the idea."

He heard Relena hum approvingly. "I like it, too. That's how I imagine freedom."

Then she moved closer to Heero and rested her head on his shoulder. She let her legs slightly lean on the side of his right tigh. Her cheek felt warm on his skin. When she was this close to him, he could feel the tantalizing smell of her skin and hair.

"So we're halfway there. Am I right?" Relena asked lazily, pointing at the skyscrapers in the distance. "It's a halfway to Houston from Philadelphia, right?"

"Yeah."

She hummed. "I never thought I would go this far. I thought that until the end of my days, I would remain in the zone, leading a monotonous, pathetic life in the dirt and under tyranny. I wouldn't have been able to go this far without your help." Saying these words, she rubbed her cheek tenderly against his shoulder. "It might sound stupid, but I'm so thankful to Duo that he rescued you from that hole… remember?"

Heero said nothing locking his gaze onto the horizon. He was a little thankful too.

"Heero," he heard Relena's soft voice again and hummed at her knowingly. She clenched fingers of her one hand on the comic book, rolling it. "You still didn't answer my question. Why you didn't kill me that night after I was bitten?"

Heero let a breath out, silently, bowing his head a little. That small creature at his side shot again into the very middle of his weak spot. He already knew what happened to him that night. But speaking the truth out was something beyond his ability. Just yet.

Thankfully, Relena didn't pursue him anymore on this question. She cuddled to his side, wrapping a hand around his arm. She made a deep sigh. "You know, Heero… I like it here. I wouldn't mind staying here forever. On this hill, maybe even in this camper, looking at this beautiful view."

"That's a dangerous idea," Heero noted.

"I know. And maybe a bit unreasonable too," Relena chuckled, then made another sigh, sliding her hand over his arm. "You're near. And that's enough for me…"

The sun already set, beaming the sky to an orange-pink hue, which started to darken in dark blue color from above. Seconds of silence between them lengthened in minutes, and the world around seemed to imitate them by getting quieter. The beetles died down, and fireflies, resembling tiny spots glowing with bright green light, began to float above the blades of grass, flying closer to them. At one point, Heero sensed Relena's breathing turn calm and even.

"Relena…?" he whispered, looking down at her, but she was already asleep.

Bowing over her, he slipped one arm behind her back and the other under her bare knees. As he lifted her off the ground, several fireflies flew in panic into the air around them. She seemed as light as a feather, slim and delicate. Her limp head rested on his collarbone, the comic fell out of her hands on the grass. Heero kicked it aside and headed for the camper's stairs, carrying her in his arms.

The interior of the old camper creaked slightly as he stepped inside and walked over to the large bed at the back. There he gently put Relena on the mattress. As soon as his hands slipped out from under her legs and back, Relena rolled over in her sleep to her side, half-consciously grabbing him by his forearm. He froze, frowning on her as she whispered his name in sleep. One lost firefly flew lazily inside their camper and landed on the window above her head, casting its faint light around them.

Feeling unable to leave her side just yet, Heero gently pulled her hand away from his arm and took it in his hands, kneeling at her bed. She slept so peacefully, her lips slightly opened, a hand that gripped his arm a second ago now relaxed between his palms. He frowned at her, then reached and brushed her golden hair off her face and her slender neck, holding an urging desire to lie next to her, hold her. His hand stopped for a second over the spot on her neck where she was bitten. The place was covered by plaster to keep it invisible, but he knew that a few tiny, red teeth marks were the only still visible traces of that horrifying night. The night that changed everything.

When he was kneeling next to her, quietly gazing at her, he felt to be at peace. He could collect those memories from the moments spent with her. Cherish them, keep them… Gather as many of them as possible.

Heero bowed his head and kissed her knuckles, solemnly, tenderly. He will protect her with his life - it was his response to all her questions.

And his silent promise.

.

* * *

TBC

The next chapters will bring us some action and you will meet a 'new' hero. Stay tuned!


	21. Chapter 21 - The Firefly

**Chapter 21 - The Firefly**

_Relena POV_

_._

The interior of the camper quickly warmed up from the summer sun, and soon the air inside became stuffy and thick, turning Relena's sleep unpleasant. She opened her eyes and rose from the mattress. She was covered with Heero's denim jacket, which gently slipped off her shoulders as she sat up. She rubbed her sleepy eyes and looked around, but Heero wasn't in the camper. The plaster on her neck made her feel uncomfortable, the skin under it felt sweaty and hot. Relena swung her legs over the edge of the bed and went outside, ripping the plaster off her wound.

The grass under her bare feet was crawly and warm. The day was sunny and steamy, there was not the slightest trace of any wind. The birds chirped lazily in the treetops on the edge of their meadow. Relena looked around but couldn't see Heero anywhere. _He had to go to look for supplies_, she thought. She remembered his advice not to remain visible during the day without reason. But the camper was stuffy enough that she didn't have the slightest intention to return inside.

She walked a few steps away from the camper and looked at the skyscrapers in the distance. She sighed; the city wasn't far away, and the day ahead would undoubtedly be at least as hot as the previous one. Relena stretched her arms above her head, closing her eyes.

Then the grass rustled behind her. Was Heero back? Before she could turn around, she heard the familiar, ominous sound of an overloaded gun, and she froze.

"I'm sorry to interrupt this pleasant morning," a feminine, slightly vibrating voice sounded in Relena's ears. "Hand over your ammunition and supplies. Don't try to resist."

Relena slowly moved her hands away from her body and swallowed hard. The voice came so suddenly and without notice that for a moment she thought she overheard it. "Take it easy," she murmured calmly, "I'm not going to fight you. We can talk…"

"Shut the fuck up. Don't overthink," the voice interrupted her. "Hands behind your head. Guide me to your belongings. Slowly."

Relena did as a determined voice told her, but the woman was still standing behind her back, and she couldn't see her. She tried to remain calm despite being in a deplorable situation. She gazed around, hoping to see Heero approaching from somewhere, but this didn't happen. Holding her hands behind her head, Relena slowly approached the camper, stopping in front of the entrance. "I have to go inside," she announced to a woman standing behind her back. "My supplies are on the table inside."

The voice didn't answer for a moment, then Relena felt something hard and round, sticking between her shoulder blades and pushing her toward the stairs. "Get in. Bring everything back here."

Relena regained her balance and slowly climbed the stairs inside the camper. Their backpacks were lying on a table just in front of the entrance. She suddenly remembered that there still had to be a vaccine vial hidden somewhere in Heero's bag. Relena froze, holding her hands over her head, desperately trying to figure a way to handle the situation. "I have them in front of me... I have to pick them up."

"Do it with one hand. Let me see you."

Relena gritted her teeth, then pushed one hand away from her head and grabbed both backpacks by the handles.

"Now turn around now. Slowly."

Obediently, Relena began to turn in the direction she came from, and suddenly, from the corner of her eye, through the windshield of the vehicle, she noticed a familiar figure emerging from the bushes.

_Heero_. He was approaching the entrance to the camper on slightly bent knees, his gun in front of him, apparently already seeing the attacker.

"What's up? Move!" a categorical voice brought Relena back to reality so abruptly that she almost jumped. Relena looked away quickly, trying hard to keep her cool and not reveal what she just saw. She looked up. In the glare of the sun rays falling into the camper, she noticed the outline of a tall, slender woman aiming at her with a gun. She had long, light blond hair, reaching almost to her thighs. The woman looked back at her with bright blue eyes, slightly lowering the barrel. "How many backpacks you have in there...?"

And suddenly, the situation changed in the blink of an eye. A loud bang broke the silence of the morning; Relena dropped the backpacks and jumped back inside the camper, hiding behind the wall. She heard the startled scream and the sound of some heavy object falling to the ground.

"Relena," came a familiar, calm voice. "You're all right?"

Relena swallowed and left her hiding place. Right next to the camper, she noticed Heero with his gun. When their eyes met for a moment, Relena recognized the feeling of relief in his look. A woman who was pointing at her a moment ago was now kneeling on the ground a few meters further, holding her wrist with a pained look. Relena gave her a curious glance, at which a woman raised her cold eyes and sent her a hateful one in return.

"I could assume you wouldn't be alone," the woman murmured through clenched teeth. "My mistake."

The woman fell silent, looking sideways from where Heero was slowly approaching her, still holding his gun in front of him. Relena gave Heero a relieved smile and walked in his direction. "Heero..."

Suddenly, the blond woman darted in Relena's direction, pulling an object from behind her bosom. Seeing her aggressive approach, Relena cried quietly, jumping backward, covering her face with her arm. Then the gunshot stunned everyone once again, and the blonde woman fell to the ground on her side, holding her knee and screaming in pain. A few meters away, a small knife stuck into the ground.

"Heero...!" Relena gave him a slightly panicked look. Heero was now promptly approaching the lying blonde woman, his eyes fixed on her like at a prey, keeping her on his line of shot.

Relena suddenly realized that she had seen this _enraged_ look in his eyes before.

"That's enough," Heero stopped just above the woman, aiming the gun at her head. "You won't get another warning."

The woman calmed her breath and looked up and Heero with her bright eyes. Then she released her bleeding knee and spread her arms wide.

"Do it," she barked provocatively. "Shoot me, you handsome motherfucker!"

Heero narrowed his predatory eyes at her, his finger curling around the trigger again.

Realizing what was about to happen, inexplicable panic squeezed Relena's chest, and without thinking much, she ran to Heero's side. "Heero, don't do that!"

"Get back, Relena," Heero warned her, his eyes never leaving his target.

"No! Don't kill her! She didn't hurt me-"

"Oh, believe me, I tried," the blonde woman hissed, clenching her both fists.

"Shut the fuck up," Heero growled ominously.

With every spoken word, the atmosphere thickened, while Heero's finger was still dangerously tightly curled around the trigger of the gun. His menacing, predatory eyes darkened and narrowed, concentrating on the person in front of him; there was absolutely no hesitation in those eyes. Relena knew that look of him; she realized that she was reliving a memory from Baltimore when Heero killed a man right in front of her. Her heart was struck again with the same crippling feeling of fear she experienced back then; the fear of Heero. The same terror she felt when he drew his weapon and almost shot her the second they found out that she had been bitten.

Every cell of her body was overwhelmed by the terror of witnessing the same thing happen again.

Relena approached Heero, clasping her hand on his shoulder. "Heero, I'm begging you," she whispered, "take her weapon, tie her up, but don't kill her."

Her eyes briefly met the eyes of a woman lying on the ground, and Relena noticed that aggression in the woman's look was slowly being replaced by surprise. Heero still kept the woman on the line of aim, never taking his eyes off her. Relena herself wasn't sure why she was trying this hard to protect this woman, but she knew that seeing her beloved man kill another human was something that she simply couldn't endure. She didn't want to feel such fear of him ever again. She didn't want him to ever have to kill anyone again…

Relena squeezed her hand on Heero's shoulder. "Please..."

Eventually, Heero gave her a quick glance. As he looked at her, his gaze softened slightly as if words that she was saying to him lit up the darkness he was immersed in. As if she was leading him out of the dark room. Relena smiled gently to him, and then Heero looked back at the woman lying on the ground.

"Sit down," he ordered.

Hearing him, Relena sighed with relief, while the blonde woman blinked several times as if in surprise, then slowly sat on her heels, her hands up.

"Take off your backpack, throw it here." Hearing his words, the woman gave Heero a distrustful look but then did as she was told. "Now, your jacket. Slowly."

"Why won't you play some music for it?" the woman sent them a contemptuous look as she slowly unbuttoned her leather jacket. She took it off and threw at their feet, staying in a T-shirt.

"Check her stuff," Heero murmured to Relena. Relena bent down and began to search through the rejected backpack and jacket. She found ammunition, two knives, and one gun - she confiscated them immediately, keeping them away from the woman's reach.

"On your feet. Face the camper," Heero continued.

"It would be easier if you wouldn't have shot my knee," the blonde woman muttered sinisterly.

"Get up," Heero drawled.

The woman looked up at Heero with a provocative glance in her eyes. "As you wish," she rose up slowly, letting out a low moan of pain.

"Check if she has any weapon somewhere else," Heero said to Relena.

Relena slowly walked over to the woman and let her hands slip over the surface of her hips and buttocks. The blonde sent her a scoffing smile over her shoulder. "That's how he likes to play? Two girls and their master?"

Relena ignored the remark and checked the woman even twice and then returned to Heero's side, giving him a nod.

"Turn around," Heero commanded, keeping the woman on the line of his shot. When the woman did as he ordered, he narrowed his eyes at her.

"You're a Firefly*," Heero stated coldly. "What are you doing here?"

Relena raised her both eyebrows in a surprise of his words, but then she noticed a unique, silver pendant hanging on the woman's neck. It's shaping evidently resembled an insect that became a symbol of this underground, revolutionary organization. Hearing Heero's words, the woman lifted her chin boldly and eyed Heero with a look that made Relena feel uncomfortable.

"That's an unusual combination of a man: equally handsome as smart and dangerous," the woman said and made a significant pause, but Heero didn't even flinch at those words. "Don't expect me to reveal my plans or anything. I'm on my way back to the Atlanta City."

"Are there more of you there?" Heero asked.

"Maybe," the woman replied mockingly.

"Then why did you attack her?" Heero pointed at Relena slightly with his chin. "If there are more of your armed friends downtown, then why to bother risking on robbing innocent civilians met on the way all by yourself?"

Hearing this question, the blonde woman looked away. "I was out of ammo."

"You were not," Relena kicked the woman's backpack, knocking it over. Three full boxes of ammunition fell out on the grass.

The woman swallowed but kept her face straight. Relena studied the woman with undisguised interest; she had never dealt with the Firefly before. In fact, she had never seen a single member of this organization _alive_. Several times in her life, she saw corpses of the Fireflies, lying on the outskirts of the zone after spectacular executions held by the military. Although the zone's propaganda always portrayed the Fireflies as an anarchic terrorist organization, Relena knew that many people supported them in their uneven, revolutionary battle with the military, which introduced tyranny into the zones.

But right then, Relena wasn't sure what to think about the Fireflies. After all, this woman almost had killed her.

"You're by yourself. Either you broke away from the group by accident, and now you are trying to catch up with them, or you're coming back from some mission," Heero analyzed aloud. "Either way, it seems that something _bad_ had happened to your unit."

The woman narrowed her eyes, sending Heero a sinister look, but he didn't seem to be bothered at all.

"If you think I won't shoot you because she asked me to," he continued with an icy tone, "then you're wrong. At this point, you pose a threat. If you continue to pose a threat to _her_, I'll shoot you like a dog."

He fell silent, letting his words sink between them, and the blonde's eyes wandered downcast as she was mulling over her current situation. Heero's protective words terrified and made Relena's stomach flutter simultaneously. She felt it would be better to let Heero get on with it this time and remained silent.

When the mysterious woman lifted her pale-blue eyes again, she seemed much more confident.

"Well, I guess it can't be helped," the woman started suddenly, making a fake sigh, fixing her look on both of them. "I think I had played this first game very badly. Can we start again? My name is Dorothy. And you are…?"

Heero didn't react in any discernible way to this childishly-sounding offer, but Relena bestowed the woman with a gentle smile.

"It's never too late," she said. "I'm Relena, and that's Heero."

"Well, I'm sorry for attacking you, Relena," the woman said curtly, bending a little to catch her wounded knee and then looked at Heero. "Plus, no hard feelings for this, Heero. Being shot by such a good-looking man almost didn't hurt."

Relena felt an unpleasant sensation struck her heart for a moment as if she had been excluded from the conversation, and then a slight feeling of anxiety when she noticed the bold way this barely met girl was frowning at Heero. But Heero ignored Dorothy's remark, letting his gun to his side. Yet, he didn't hide it, nor let his cautious eyes leave her.

Relena made a few steps closer and kneeled near Dorothy's wounded leg. "The bullet only grazed your skin," she diagnosed. "I can bandage it for you."

Hearing Relena's words, Dorothy looked up and frowned at Relena for an uncomfortably long moment, studying her with caution and undisguised curiosity in her eyes, almost a shock. Relena returned the look but had an unpleasant impression that something mischievous started creeping behind the woman's cold, bright eyes. The second later, Dorothy smiled widely, the look in her eyes changing again.

"Thanks, I guess. Heero… right?" Dorothy gazed longingly at Heero again, ignoring Relena. "Just so you know. My three mates and I went to search for supplies north of Atlanta two weeks ago. We were scattered by a group of infected…" her voice hung, she looked away, "I am the only survivor. When I tried to go back into the city from the north side… it seemed like something attacked the main group too. I ran."

"If there's nobody alive there, then why you're going back to Atlanta?" Heero asked, his voice flat and cold.

Dorothy leaned in his direction. "I _have_ to go back. The group may be completely lost, but if there's the slightest chance that anybody is still alive in there… It's my duty and obligation as a Firefly to go back to get them out of there. Each Firefly would do it for another. And I wasn't lying about the ammo. If there's something out there… I wanted to be better prepared."

"Well, good luck then," Heero murmured indifferently.

"No, wait! Hear me out," Dorothy continued. "I know we had a bad start. No surprise that you wanted to shoot me. I apologize to you both for what I did. I need your help," she bent her head slightly. "If you help me get back to my group, or to anybody still alive from it, I promise you will get an allocation of ammunition and weapons, maybe even some transport, if you want. I know where we have our reserves in the city… Just help me get through."

Relena studied Dorothy, her face, and the fear in her pale blue eyes. Her sorrow for companions seemed honest to her; she couldn't find a reason why she wouldn't believe her. And her words for help sounded familiar.

Relena glanced at Heero. "We have to help her."

"No," he replied with a severe tone that almost cut the discussion.

"Heero!" Relena stood and walked to him. "We're going through the city anyway, right?"

Heero frowned at Relena with a stern look. "You're irrational," he muttered quietly to her so that Dorothy wouldn't hear. "She almost robbed us a moment ago, maybe even tried to kill us. And after hearing what she had to say, I have even less than _any_ intention of letting us get into _another_ city, probably full of infected."

Relena understood what he meant by his emphasizing words, but decided to insist. "We can't just leave her like that…"

"Yes, we can. And we will."

Relena narrowed her eyes on him. "When we met, I also aimed at you. Then Duo asked you for help. Have you ever wondered what would have happened if you didn't do this one good deed and didn't decide to help Duo and me?"

She didn't want to remember that back then, Duo was the first to help Heero, and she didn't have bullets in her gun. The look in Heero's eyes told her that he remembered that, though he didn't say anything. Relena lifted her chin a bit up, withstanding his confident gaze. She could feel Dorothy's eyes staring at them expectantly.

"Very well," Heero eventually announced coldly, his eyes suddenly turning ice-cold like on the day they first met. Relena held her breath. She had not seen this indifferent look of his for weeks; the look as if he decided to hide all his feelings deep inside and didn't care anymore. As if he was returning to the same dark room from which she pulled him out a moment before. Heero shot a sideways glance at Dorothy, while he took all Dorothy's stuff. "We will leave in the afternoon so that we can enter the city after dark. I'm taking these from you for now on."

"It was simply impressive," Dorothy applauded falsely to Relena. "I didn't think you have such an influence on this brave man, Relena."

Relena didn't react at those words, watching Heero moving away from them toward the camper. She was feeling the uncertainty growing in her; she didn't expect Heero to give in so easily. Has she done the right thing?

"Don't get the wrong idea," Relena eventually replied coldly, kneeling at Dorothy's side again, bandaging her knee, "once we help you find your fellows, we go our separate ways."

"That might be the deal. _For now_," Dorothy looked over Relena's shoulder to send Heero a clearly seductive smile, completely ignoring Relena's presence. It was already too much for Relena to bear, and she tied a bandage knot… way too tightly. Dorothy's reaction was instantaneous. "Ouch! Fuck, that hurts!"

"Oh shoot, forgive me," Relena spelled her false excuse, letting an ominous smirk form at the corner of her mouth. "Don't move, I'm almost done."

.

* * *

TBC

* - 'Fireflies' is the name of the members of the organization of the revolutionary and military-like profile, that is carrying the country-wide revolt against the military's terror (that's governing nearly all Quarantine Zones) to restore the proper U.S. government. Their symbol is a drawing of a firefly.

Fasten your seatbelts to the next chapters! A lot is going to happen! And yes, writing this chapter, I was definitely inspired by the silhouette of Dorothy from the first manga Gundam Wing, in which she was evidently flirting with Heero (in the anime and in Glory of Losers this is not so apparent). Are you curious how long Relena will be able to endure Dorothy's behavior? See you in the next chapter!


	22. Chapter 22 - The Crack

**Chapter 22 - The Crack**

Just as Heero had planned, before the night came, they bypassed the exit on the city beltway and turned into side streets. Similarly to all previous cities they visited, Atlanta was a ghost town. A zone functioned here until the city was conquered by the Fireflies a few years ago. As Dorothy said, the Fireflies eliminated the remnants of the military's administration and tried to purge the city of infected people to create one of the most important strategic centers of the organization. The attempt most likely failed, as the city seemed still full of infected.

The deeper they were getting into the city, the more often Dorothy was taking the lead. Though Heero took all weapons from her as a precaution, she seemed overconfident, walking ahead of their little group through the empty streets. As if she wasn't afraid of anything, as if she was trying to show that this was her city, her territory. Relena studied the woman with interest, trying to find a way to know her better. She tried to keep the ball rolling somehow, but although Dorothy kindly answered all her questions, she wasn't showing much interest in continuing the conversation with Relena.

Instead, she was showing an unhealthy interest in Heero.

Relena wasn't sure when did she realize that Dorothy's presence started to annoy her. Until then, there was only her and Heero, and now Dorothy seemed to stick in between them. Dorothy was repeatedly falling into step with Heero, complimenting him, at one point she began to pat him on the shoulder, then even _rub_ him. She seemed overly excited by his presence as if she wasn't looking for remnants of her lost group but going on a picnic. And at the same time, she was acting as if she was pointedly ignoring Relena's presence.

Dorothy was talking about various things: about her past, how she survived to this day, about the Fireflies. She claimed that the Fireflies were like a family to her. She fled the Boston zone to join them. Since then, Dorothy traveled with them, carrying out various missions and tasks that the organization set for them. She considered this group and its goals as her own, seemed to love this military organization, seemed to _enjoy _fighting in general. Something in the way she was talking about fighting, killing the soldiers of the military, and infected seemed disturbing to Relena.

Observing the way Dorothy was behaving towards Heero, Relena felt an unpleasant sensation sprouting in her heart, but she didn't want to fully realize its presence. She wasn't convinced that she had any _right_ to feel that uncomfortable when Dorothy was hanging around Heero. That one kiss Relena and Heero shared in Charlotte seemed now like a distant memory of a gesture of relief that happened to soothe their hearts after two horrific days of uncertainness. It didn't turn out to be a declaration of any kind, as Relena still didn't tell Heero about her true feelings for him. Waiting for the right moment, not sure about Heero's feelings towards herself, confused by his distance, Relena couldn't find enough courage to say it directly. It was apparent that Heero cared about her, and she cared about him too, but Relena didn't have any grounds to suppose that from his side, it was more than that. That's why feeling jealous for Heero seemed stupid and childish.

At the same time, during that day, Heero became more inaccessible than usual. He spoke even less and seemed insensitive to what was happening around him, impervious to Relena's glances or Dorothy's dalliance, concentrating on the road ahead of him. Relena began to torment herself over that maybe she had unnecessarily opposed his decision earlier. After all, it wasn't what they agreed on at the beginning of their journey. But didn't everything they agreed upon _changed_ already? Did anything remain unchanged, except for Houston as their distant destination?

Thinking all this over and over again made her feel blue. Therefore, when Heero finally chose an abandoned police station as their shelter for the rest of the night, Relena felt much more exhausted than usual, more psychically than physically. Almost immediately after the arrival, she turned to the next room, which once served as a cell.

"Relena?"

Hearing his voice, she turned back, looking at Heero's unreadable face. "Everything's ok?" he asked her.

"Yhm," she nodded, then made a sigh. "I'm wiped out. I think I'm going to sleep." She glanced at the tall blonde standing next to Heero, sending her a knowing look. "Dorothy, aren't you tired too? There's enough space on the bunk beds back there for both of us."

"Oh, that's so kind of you," Dorothy smirked but didn't move from her spot right beside Heero. "I'll join you in a while. I'm not that sleepy yet. Feel free to go."

Relena certainly didn't like the way it was going. She looked up at Heero, searching for any support in him, but all she saw was his standard, indifferent expression. Then he let his eyes go downcast and walked away, sitting down by a wide gap in the wall, leaning with his back against a wooden bench. Relena bit her lip. There was nothing else to do but to do what she just announced. Which meant that she was leaving and they were staying.

"Well, then. Goodnight."

When Relena walked the tiny corridor between the rooms, her mind started racing over all the possible reasons why she should have stayed with them, or rather, why she shouldn't leave them alone, but she couldn't think of any _reliable_ one. Defeated, she entered her cell, taking a bed on the left. It felt hard and uncomfortable when she sat on it. It surprised her that she even noticed it; before that, she slept even on the floor, and she didn't mind. But now it was different. She laid herself down, curled on her side, and made a sigh. Then she closed her eyes for a moment, then lazily opened them, staring unconsciously at the dusty floor, waiting for her sleep to come.

And suddenly she realized she just heard a conversation.

Relena held her breath, straining her hearing; she didn't mishear. From behind her back, a little above her head came out the scraps of human voices.

Her, Heero, and Dorothy were undoubtedly the only beings within a range of a few hundred meters that could have night chats with each other. Relena suddenly remembered an event from her childhood, when she had eavesdropped her father's conversation with Milliardo and had been discovered by her mother. She had been scolded for this and had learned that it isn't polite to eavesdrop other people's conversations...

But she hadn't been a little girl for a long time. And nobody cared about _Savoir Vivre_ anymore.

…_this fast… I'd say it would…_

Relena swiftly and soundlessly rolled over and moved closer to the wall. The voices became more transparent, but they were still dimmed. Relena looked up and noticed that the brick wall separating the two rooms had a relatively large crack in the place where once was a window, which got apparently walled up before the outbreak. Now the dim moonlight from the other room was coming in through that crack. Absorbed by curiosity, Relena waved off the recollection of her mother's scolding face again and quietly kneeled on the bed, reaching up to the crack in the wall.

For a moment, it seemed to her that the gap would not be wide enough for her to see anything, but she closed one eye and pressed her face against the wall. Then, in the twilight filing the neighboring room, she noticed Heero's silhouette. He sat on the floor with his back to her, propped on a wooden bench, just a few meters from the wall - in the same spot she had left him. Relena didn't see Dorothy yet, but she could hear her voice; confident and vibrant:

…_every one of them dead. Nevertheless, I have to find them. _

The sound of Dorothy's steps woven into her voice, and after a moment, the slender figure of the blond woman appeared in the gap. Her bright hair seemed almost white in the moonlight. Dorothy stood in front of the window, next to Heero, as if she was looking at the sky.

_Thank you for everything so far. First of all, that you didn't shoot me back then._

_That's nothing to thank _me_ for_.

Dorothy whipped her head at Heero's words. Relena backed out instinctively, fearing she could somehow be spotted.

_Was it actually just because of _her_ that you didn't shoot me?_

There was a pause; Heero didn't answer anything at those words, still sitting and frowning outside. Soon Dorothy walked over to Heero, standing right in front of him as if she was trying to get his attention. Relena held her breath, realizing they were talking about _her_.

_I've sensed from the beginning that you two are a strange couple. You don't match. She has manners of a noblewoman preserved her whole life in a safe zone while your life has made you robust and sturdy, taught you to deal with death. Yet, though you seem to babysit her, she's not letting you have the upper hand. _

Then the blonde woman crouched right in front of Heero. Her face disappeared behind the shape of Heero's head, it was challenging to say what she was exactly doing. Relena could only see her shadow on the floor. There was something disturbingly seductive in her movements; realizing that and Dorothy's bold words, Relena swallowed nervously, realizing at the same time, that she couldn't do anything about this.

_I know this is not your true nature. You are much more like me. Wild. Uncontrollable. Solitary. You follow the instincts that never let you down. Why you agree to that? She's domesticating you, emasculating you. You'll start wearing a dog collar before you know it._

Relena felt her left hand unconsciously grasp the spot on her chest at the stinging feeling of pain. She felt unjustness, she wanted to cry out just _how much_ what this woman was saying wasn't true. How much she admired that _wild_ part of Heero: his independence and self-sufficiency, his will to survive...

In the meantime, Dorothy's shadow started to lurk near Heero's as if she was crawling to him.

_Holy shit, your eyes _are_ murderous. Full of hunger… And I don't mean craving for food. Just why she didn't give _it_ to you yet?_

She was getting closer to him with each second until their shadows on the floor melted into one. Her movements indicated that Dorothy moved her hands towards Heero, _mounting_ him, while Heero didn't stop her.

Being unable to do anything to stop them, or even see Heero's face, and because of a pain that tormented her heart at this view, Relena almost couldn't breathe, yet she couldn't turn her gaze away either…

_Come with me, join the Fireflies. With me, you won't have to hold back anymore. I will give you what she doesn't want to give to you_. _Whatever binds you to this high-born chick, leave her_...

And at that second, all of a sudden, everything was interrupted when Heero's hand shot up and grabbed one Dorothy's wrist, pushing it away from his shoulders. Relena could hear Dorothy's surprised gasp at this gesture.

_Hey…!_

"_**Relena**__."_

Relena almost jumped in the air, realizing that Heero actually spoke out her name. His voice was calm but confident, as always, he didn't turn his face away from Dorothy.

_What…?_

_She has a name. Don't speak like that of her again. _

Heero let go of Dorothy's hand, but the woman didn't back up nor move off him. Relena drew breath into her lungs, feeling a pleasant warmth flooding her heart. She realized that she didn't expect to hear these words from Heero's mouth even more than Dorothy herself. At the same time, she made a mental note to slap Dorothy in the face at the earliest opportunity for sticking her nose into their private matters.

_That's so chivalrous of you. __All right... Relena, that is. The offer still stands as a whole._

_What makes you think that I would even consider this?_ came Heero's exasperated voice.

_That's simple. Because you hate the world of today. You detest the disease that took everything from you. You despise people for not taking any significant action for this long, until you have lost everything, saw the death of all those that were close to you. Am I wrong?_

As Heero's answer was silence, Dorothy apparently took as consent for her to continue.

_You can live on this pitiful, meaningless life, or you can become a part of something that matters. You don't have to be alone in your hatred anymore, Heero. You can help us create the new world, built on your conditions; we can crash the military and introduce a new world order._

_That's pure hypocrisy. You replace one tyranny with another. _

Hearing Heero's remark, Dorothy whipped her long hair behind her back and placed both hands on Heero's shoulders. This caused Relena's fists to clench again.

_That's a harsh word. Maybe even unjust. Imagine a new world, Heero. In which you can take a breath without worrying about the Cordyceps flower growing around the corner. In which there are no more infected. Perhaps... in which infected can be treated._

Relena held her breath at these words. Did this mean that Fireflies were also looking for a vaccine? And if so, why did this message cause her subconscious anxiety instead of joy? What about laboratories in Houston? Who did they belong to? Questions multiplied in Relena's head, while Heero remained silent. Then Dorothy lifted her hands, touching his neck and the back of his head.

_We believe that this world is within our reach. We will do anything to make it come true. And it's all thanks to genetics, Heero. I will tell you a secret. _

Saying this,Dorothy bowed over to his ear, drawing her lips dangerously close to Heero's skin. Relena clung even closer to the wall, holding her breath, trying to hear Dorothy's quiet words…

…_During every pandemic, there are always some immune people. They have to exist. It is merely the absolute law of nature. And all we have to do is to find them and use them… even _one_ is enough..._

Suddenly Dorothy swiftly pulled back and crawled backward, away from Heero, as if she was scared of him. Relena couldn't see Heero's look, but she didn't even try to picture it in her imagination; it was enough for her to see Dorothy's terrified face as she glanced at the gun that Heero held in his hand, aimed straight towards her. After a short moment, an arrogant smile returned on the blonde's face.

_Amazing. You're simply outstanding. I underestimated you again. _

Heero got on his feet and stood over Dorothy, still aiming at her forehead with his gun. His slender figure cast shadow on Dorothy's features.

_Your group isn't lost, is that right?_

He was more stating the fact than asking. Dorothy narrowed her eyes in response.

_You figured it out so nicely that it's almost a pleasure for me to confirm it._

_Talk. Where are they?_

_Near._

There came a sound of flicking off the safety of Heero's gun.

_I give you one last chance to stay alive. Where-_

"Heero…!" Relena gasped and got on her feet, running out of her cell as fast as she possibly could. The situation changed so drastically that she didn't think of any possible explanation of her eavesdropping, but she didn't care about that at the moment. In a split of a second, she ran inside the opposite room. Heero and Dorothy glanced at her, but none of them moved.

"Oh," Dorothy raised her eyebrows with annoyance as if Relena's presence interrupted her in something, rather than surprised. "So we woke you up."

"I heard this whole conversation," Relena informed, avoiding Heero's gaze and frowning straight at Dorothy. "If your group is all right, then why did you bring us here?"

"He already figured that," Dorothy tilted her head in Heero's direction.

Relena turned to Heero, giving him a surprised look.

"It's a trap," Heero muttered after a second, still aiming at Dorothy. He shot a side glance at Relena, their eyes met. "To lure _you_ to the Fireflies' den."

Relena held her breath, but when he didn't continue, she joined her hands nervously, looking at Dorothy. "Why would you do this?"

Dorothy just smiled derisively at her, ignoring Heero's deathly stare.

"Oh, you unbelievably _stupid_ girl. You really thought I wouldn't notice that mark on your neck?"

Hearing her words, Relena reflexively covered the spot on her neck with her hand, noticing something she completely forgot about thorough the day... _The plaster_. She realized that she didn't wear a plaster anymore. She tore it off her skin this morning…

"Such a deep wound with apparent teeth marks could derive from two things only. First one - unbelievable - you both are having very peculiar sexual practices," Dorothy hung her voice for a moment, looking mockingly at her interlocutors and letting out a soft but scoffing chuckle, "and second, you got bitten by that damn thing, and you still live. Which means that you're immune. The only one I know about so far. Congratulations."

Relena lifted her chin up at those words, sending the woman an unfriendly gaze. "What did you intend to do with me then?"

Dorothy shot a glance at the barrel of Heero's gun aimed at her and hesitated for a moment over the answer. "I don't think there's any reason left for me to reveal anything more."

Relena narrowed her eyes at Dorothy, deciding to play their last card.

"Does it have anything in common with the laboratories in Houston?"

A grave silence fell between them, then Dorothy glanced at both of them, the expression in her eyes gradually darkening and turning hostile. Her face went gray, she scowled at them like a trapped animal.

"Now, you crossed a line, bitch…"

"You better talk-" Heero hissed angrily, making a step in her direction.

"And _you_ better go fuck yourself," Dorothy replied to him with an irritated voice. "You can shoot me if you like, but there's no way in hell I'll-"

She didn't finish her words when the thunder of tens of gunshots cut through the night air around them.

.

* * *

TBC

Aww…? A cliffhanger again. I'm addicted to cliffhangers; love them in other stories, and I probably exploit them in my own writing. See you in the next chapter!


	23. Chapter 23 - The Escape

**Chapter 23 - The Escape**

_Heero POV_

_._

"They're here!" Dorothy laughed sinisterly and triumphantly, hiding from the rain of bullets under the windowsill. "I knew it! They've found me! My Fireflies!"

"Relena, hide!" Heero shouted, crawling under the window, looking up just enough to make sure Relena escaped behind the nearest pillar.

Meanwhile, Dorothy began to run away, still dissolving into her devilish laughter. Noticing that, Heero immediately leaned against the floor and gave a few shots towards her. The bullets hit the wall inches above Dorothy's head, she covered her head with her hands but didn't stop running. Her wicked laughter soon died down, disappearing in the cannonade, and she vanished from his sight.

"Fuck," Heero drawled, crawling back under the windowsill.

He lifted his hand to cover his eyes as the bullets stirred up clouds of dust around him that almost blinded him. It felt like the night air got hot from the number of bullets that flew around. In this chaos, Heero felt his pulse quickening as he realized he couldn't see or hear Relena.

"Relena!" he called for her, but his voice got utterly lost in the thunder. He cursed; he had to _hurry_.

Heero laid down on the floor and crawled from under the windowsill to the opposite wall, and there he finally noticed her. Relena was sitting huddled behind the pillar, covering her head with her hands, her eyes squeezed shut. The plaster pillar was now the only barrier covering her from the incessant rain of bullets. She was too far away for Heero to crawl safely to her. Heero looked around abruptly, quickly realizing that though there were several ways to run from the ruined outpost, due to the strength of the attack, they practically had only _one_ chance to escape.

"Relena!" he called her again, then breathed a sigh of relief when she heard his voice through the cannonade and looked up at him. "At my sign, run straight ahead!"

He motioned her the direction in front of her with his hand when another series of bullets got stuck in the walls and on the floor around them, splashing clouds of white dust from the plaster. The Fireflies' group they encountered had to be enormously well-armed, as they were shooting nearly incessantly. Now this cloud of dust created by this assault could be their only chance. Looking around one last time, Heero calculated their odds and felt his mouth go dry; he frowned at Relena, realizing by the look in her eyes how terrified she was.

"You're ready?"

Relena nodded, then kneeled, readying herself for a quick run. Her lips whispered something that resembled the words "I am," but Heero didn't hear them anymore. He also kneeled, keeping his head as low as he could from the bullets, propping himself with his hand against the floor.

"At my sign," his eyes met Relena's again. Their breaths evened. Gazing into her horrified oceanic eyes, Heero's conscience was suddenly overwhelmed by the spontaneous but confident reflection, that he won't let her get hurt… even if this fearful look of hers happens to be the last he would see in her life.

Then the cannonade suddenly went down. It was their chance.

"…NOW!"

The silence that fell during the interval between the shootings was interrupted by a clump of their feet on the rubble. Heero and Relena sprinted away at once in the dense cloud of dust, toward the second exit from the police station, at its back. Heero started running just a little bit later than Relena. Just behind her.

Fractions of a second then, the shooting resumed, and Heero felt two hard impacts on the upper-right side of his back.

The power of shots surprised him; it made him stagger and lose his balance, it was almost enough for him to fall over. His brain began to work at slow speed, gradually processing his current situation, processing the fact that he was actually hit.

A second later, his mind was eventually hit by the first wave of striking pain and he felt hot blood running down his side. His knees got weak, he felt as if he was losing his breath.

He thought that maybe it would be better to give up at this point: fall over, stop fighting, give himself to the Fireflies... or just stand and expose himself to more shots… so that _she_ could escape...

_You're near. And that's enough for me …_

Heero shot his eyes open when a familiar, beautiful voice ringed out in his brain.

He looked up. Relena _thankfully_ didn't notice what happened to him, as she was continuing running a few steps ahead. Heero gazed at her, as she was running further away and realized that he wasn't allowed to die yet. _He didn't want to_. _Not yet_. Then the whistling of bullets over Heero's head made him aware of the seriousness of his situation; if he doesn't keep running, he will get more shots.

Catching his balance, with his eyes locked at Relena's drifting silhouette, Heero felt the hotness of adrenaline rising in his chest. He clenched his teeth and forced himself to keep running forward as fast as he possibly could. He heard the screams of their pursuers as they passed from mouth to mouth news about their escape. He ran, keeping his eyes on Relena, who was still bravely running forward, focused, sending him only a few quick glances.

They somehow managed to escape from the shot line, and the shouts of the Fireflies got more and more silent, but never died out. Looking around, Heero understood that they wouldn't run away in an open field; they needed to hide somewhere. Just behind the parking outside the post, they ran into the adjacent park, where Heero caught up with Relena and pulled her deep into the thick, high bushes. The place was nearly completely isolated, even the moonlight didn't reach it.

"Stop…" Heero muttered as he pushed Relena to lie flat down in the high grass and thicket around them. He wrapped his injured right arm around her, pressing her down to the ground. His shoulder felt unexceptionally painful at every, even the slightest movement. With every beat of his heart, with every flow of blood in his veins, Heero felt that excruciating, pulsating pain over and over again. They were both breathing heavily, lying on the ground, one next to another. "Be quiet."

Relena turned her head to face Heero. Her oceanic eyes searched his face, but then they widened in panic. He knew she had to notice what happened; he couldn't hide the enlarging red stain on his clothes from her.

"Heero…!" Relena gasped, leaning closer to him, trying to prop herself on her elbow to look at him closely from above. Realizing what she wanted to do, with one last effort, forcing his tremendously painful arm to move accordingly to his wish, Heero held Relena by her shoulder and abruptly pulled groundward, next to him, under cover of high, thick grass. She hit the ground, making a low gasp, and looked at him with worried eyes. "Heero… you're hurt…"

He hushed her, realizing his breath was already trembling of pain. He could hear blood thudding in his ears, dangerously fast, as if he was about to experience shock. He was breathing heavily, fixing his eyes on Relena. Relena's eyes glazed over, she moved closer to him in the tall grass and opened her mouth as if she wanted to speak. Heero lifted his hand and placed it on her lips, then shook his head slightly.

Then the screams and patter of their pursuers' feet suddenly increased, the rustle of dry branches indicated that they had just run into the park. Eventually, their voices died down, commands were given.

_Seek them out. They couldn't go far. Shoot without an order_.

Heero and Relena froze, lying hidden in deep thickets. They could only wait in silence, hoping for a miracle; that the Fireflies will pass them by. Heero clenched his eyelids, calming his breath, holding back the slightest groan. He could feel the sharp blades of grass under his cheek and the smell of summer-dried earth that was soaking in blood from his wounds. His hearing sharpened, and he knew that a dozen or so meters from them, the bushes swayed, betraying the Firefly that was creeping behind them. There was an alarming sound of the weapon being charged.

Feeling another wave of pain incoming, Heero clenched a strand of Relena's hair in his fist when he felt her delicate fingers tighten on the material of his shirt. He opened his eyes and looked up at her; Relena was gazing at him, a single tear escaping the ocean of her eyes. In the very dim moonlight, her lips formed in soundless words, but he could read it.

_I'm sorry._

He could hear and feel the subtle tremor of the earth under his cheek, and the sound of grasses moved by the approaching Fireflies. The steps were getting closer and closer, their hideout could be spotted anytime soon. He didn't want her to cry, _not now_. With a trembling hand of his injured arm, he wiped a tear off her cheek, leaving a pink streak of his own blood on it.

He wondered anxiously if her skin was too warm or if his body was actually getting colder.

Then, unexpectedly, the steps and shouts began to draw away. The rustling of the grass became distant like the flickering of stars in the sky above them. The night silence fell again in the grove; it became deafening, almost overwhelming, though it meant that they had miraculously escaped death. Heero and Relena held their breaths, listening to the softest noise, but the groove resounded only with the sounds of nocturnal animals.

"Are they gone?" Relena asked silently.

Heero rose himself slightly on his unharmed arm and looked around alertly. Realizing they were alone and safe. At least for now.

"You need to… move on," Heero murmured through clenched teeth, gripping his wounds and trying to rise from his knees. He felt Relena's hands on him, but he shook them off. "Leave it, run!"

"I'm not going anywhere without you," Relena declared, silently, relentlessly.

Under the pressure of pain, Heero felt he was very quickly running out of power needed to fight her. He looked up at her narrowly, breathing heavily. "Run away!" he almost begged.

"Then I'm taking you with me," Relena caught him under his unharmed arm and helped him get up. Heero leaned on her, steadying himself, letting a silent grunt. Although he tried to stand up and walk on his own, he realized how weak he felt and that a big part of his weight had to rest on Relena's arms. But the more he wanted to move away from her to relieve her of his burden, the tighter she hugged him to her, never letting him go.

"Now, _you_ lean on me, Heero Yuy."

x x x

Heero figured that what happened to them that night had to be a real blessing in disguise. Their provisory hideout in the grass efficiently deceived the pursuit that went in the entirely opposite direction, while Heero and Relena, tripping up and staying in the shadows, were progressively leaving the city. And when the light of dawn appeared in the sky, they found another hideout, where they intended to stay hidden during the day and continue the escape when the night falls. It was the garage of one of the houses in the suburbs, in a large garden. Its owner apparently liked to DIY because its interior was full of all sorts of tools. There was also a car parked inside. In the corner of the garage, behind cardboard boxes full of various shuffles, Relena finally let Heero lie on the floor.

Once on the ground, Heero let out a heavy breath, holding back a groan of pain and looked at Relena. She sat at his side, drenched out, bracing her hands on the ground. Her clothes were soaked with his blood and her sweat, she closed her eyes, trying to steady her breathing. Heero stopped squeezing wounds on his shoulder blade for a moment and glanced at the palm of his hand, all dripping with ominously dark, red blood.

"Heero," he heard Relena's scared voice, "what do you want me to do? Tell me."

He took another couple of breaths, squeezing the wounds back and propping his head against the floor, looking up at the ceiling. He already knew what he needed to do.

"Go to the house. Look for anything you could use… to pull out the bullet."

Relena gazed at him with terrified, worried eyes, then looked around nervously. She seemed to be fighting with herself.

"Go," Heero muttered silently, gazing at her reassuringly. "Just be careful…"

Relena's eyes glazed, a look in her eyes a mixture of horror and determination, but then she nodded and pressed her lips together. She took out her gun and reloaded it.

"Please wait here for me," she whispered and bowed down to feather a kiss on the top of Heero's head. She gave a short squeeze to his hand and then rose on her feet. Heero tilted his head and accompanied her with his gaze until she ran outside, brandishing her gun, vanishing from his view in the light of the morning that started outside.

Feeling another strike of pain coursing through his mind and chest, Heero rolled on to his unwounded side. When he was finally alone, he breathed out a silent groan of pain and opened his eyes, staring idly at the dirty garage floor. On the surface of the dust covering the floor, he could notice traces of Relena's shoes as she ran from here seconds before.

Then his vision started getting blurry. The world seemed suddenly turning upside down. With every tiniest cell of his body and mind, he concentrated all his remaining strength on the unequal battle against unconsciousness.

x x x

_Relena POV_

_._

Relena was searching through the interiors of subsequent kitchen lockers in the house. Her hands were shaking with nervousness, but she tried hard to not make any significant noise as she wasn't entirely sure if there were any infected or people in the house. She found a lot of random shuffles in the cupboards; rats and all kinds of vermin ran between the cracks. She couldn't find anything useful for a long moment.

"Shit, shit, _shit_…!" she repeatedly hissed her swearings as if it could help anyhow. She opened all the drawers, and finally, in the last row of drawers, she found meat tongs. They were smaller than those she remembered from her family barbecue parties. They could have come in handy. Still, she needed something to treat the wound.

Relena ran out of the kitchen and, holding the gun in her hands, went to search the rest of the house. She stopped in the corridor, listening, trying to imitate Heero when he explored every new place of their stay. Thank God, the house was completely empty. It turned out that the interior wasn't thoroughly plundered. After searching both bedrooms, Relena entered the bathroom and opened the locker that was still standing under the window. Suddenly, a green lizard ran out from the inside. Startled, Relena jumped away with a squeal, propping herself against the tiled floor of the bathroom.

When the lizard escaped away, Relena rose from the dusty floor back to a kneeling position, then lifted her hands, intending to dust them off. Yet, when she looked down at them, she felt the chill of terror freeze her heart. Because of the adrenaline, she hadn't noticed this before. Her hands were all covered in blood.

Heero's blood.

_You're irrational. I have even less than any intention of letting us get into another city, probably full of infected_.

The memory of yesterday's words that he had said to her hit her conscience with such an impact that Relena almost stopped breathing.

He protested. But eventually, he did what she wanted him to do. Just because she asked him to. Suddenly she came to a frustrating, horrifying realization that it was all her fault. It was her fault they got into the city. It was her fault they were lured by Dorothy into a trap. It was her fault Heero got shot.

It will be entirely her fault if he dies.

"Oh God," she gasped, still looking at her hands, turning them from both sides. His blood had already caked on the folds of her skin and under her fingernails, forming dark scabs. Just a few hours ago, this life-giving fluid was circulating in Heero's veins; it was turning his body so pleasantly warm to the touch, it was allowing him to run, talk to her, touch her... And now, his blood was leaking onto his clothes, soaking into the ground beneath his body, on her hands... Relena had crown evidence of his slow death right before her eyes. "Heero…"

Her vision started to blurry, but she quickly swallowed her tears. It wasn't the right time to cry. He can't die because of her. She had to save him. She won't let him die without telling him just how much she loved him...

Relena hurriedly brushed off her hands and dived under the locker. Just under the sink's elbow, she found what she was looking for: a small plastic box with red cross written on it. She couldn't believe her luck; that was probably one of the last first aid kits in the whole state. Clutching the finding in her hands and pressing it to her heart like a treasure or a trophy, she got up from her knees and ran out of the bathroom.

.

* * *

TBC

This is a good time to once again thank all my loyal reviewers, especially Lumpylumpia, Mistaken-Miracles, and Hellocat42! I cherish all your reviews, it's an honor to have such readers as you!

I encourage others to express their opinion on the adventures of Heero and Relena so far - I know that many of you read this story. I am very interested in what do you think!

Plus… I was wondering if I should write it, but I will write it: the next chapter is probably the one everyone of you is waiting for the most.

Dot.


	24. Chapter 24 - The Depth x

**Chapter 24 - The Depth**

_Relena POV_

The morning sun was rising slowly in the sky when Relena silently closed the garage door behind her and headed toward the pile of cardboard boxes in the back. She moved quickly, almost ran, clutching her findings. The garage, constructed of thin metal plates, was warming up slowly because of the late morning heat, and the air inside was already getting thick.

"I'm back-" she announced, but her voice died in her throat at sight before her: Heero was lying on his side on the ground where she'd left him, but his eyes were now closed. He didn't seem to breathe. His right arm was resting limply on the floor, and he didn't move an inch at her words.

Fear overwhelmed her, her heart stopped. "Heero…" Relena called him louder with a trembling, terrified voice. Pleadingly.

Then he suddenly opened his Prussian-blue eyes and stared up at her with a somewhat hazy look from behind his unruly bangs. Relena sighed with relief, her heart continuing to beat again.

"I almost thought you-" she started, but didn't finish the sentence; it didn't matter. She didn't even want to speak these horrifying words out loud, she didn't want to even think that it could actually have happened... Relena briskly walked over to Heero and kneeled on the ground next to his head. "I found a first aid kit. And tongs…"

"One… just grazed my shoulder," Heero whispered with a hoarse voice, interrupting her. "It's not a big deal. The other one has to be somewhere… and I can't move my arm because of it."

Relena blinked, but then understood that he had meant the _bullets_. Up until that point, she didn't realize that he was actually hit _twice_.

Her heart trembled with remorse, she felt an inner fear of looking at his wounds, as if they were about to start screaming that they were the proofs of her guilt.

"Everything will be fine..." she said comfortingly out loud, spreading her tools on the floor, wanting so bad to pretend she knew what she was doing and trying to control the trembling of her hands.

"My clothes..." she heard Heero's voice again, as he bent his shoulders back, trying to pull his bloodstained jeans jacket off his shoulders, "…need to take them off."

Realizing that he couldn't do it himself, Relena swiftly helped him remove his jacket and then his shirt. Both pieces of clothing had bloody holes. She just couldn't look quietly at them and quickly threw them away from her sight.

Heero was laying with his back to her, on his left - unwounded side, naked from the waist up. Relena saw him that way for the first time. She glanced at his trained body, on his clearly outlined shoulders and arms; his chest was quickly falling and rising with each breath he took. Heero was slender and seemed only slightly malnourished for a man, which was extraordinary anyway considering how little food he always needed; he usually ate only half of the portion that he'd given to her. This body also bore apparent traces of Heero's hard and dangerous life; he had a lot of scars and healed wounds. Now there were two new, gunshot wounds visible at the level of his right shoulder blade.

One of the wounds, which in Heero's opinion, only "grazed his skin," was awful and unimaginably painful in Relena's opinion. The bullet didn't bite into his body, but rolled over the upper edge of his arm, leaving a long, bloody streak of torn, burned skin, about a centimeter deep. The second wound was a little bit below the first one and didn't end on the other side. Blood trickled from both of them on his skin, and on the floor. Staring at his wounds, Relena felt all the hair on her neck stand up; she couldn't imagine the pain Heero must have felt in that moment when he got shot, and now.

"Now… look carefully," Heero said, breathing heavily, his voice low and hoarse, "you have to find the bullet."

Relena nodded her head, then moved as close to him as possible until her knees leaned against his back. It terrified her that Heero seemed much cooler to the touch than usual. She chased away evil thoughts again and bent over the gunshot wound that didn't have an exit wound on the other side.

It was her first time to deal with such a severe gunshot wound; frowning at it, Relena clenched her teeth, trying to chase away the guilt that dulled her conscience again. This wound looked more inconspicuous than the one at the top of Heero's arm. It was just a small hole in his body. It seemed as if the shot had been fired from a rather small-caliber weapon, from a long distance - which was actually fortunate for Heero. If he was hit from a larger-caliber rifle, the bullet would probably pierce through his lungs - he probably wouldn't have survived. And so, the shot apparently lost most of its strength during the flight and stopped on the bone of Heero's shoulder joint. Relena frowned at Heero's flesh looking for any trace of the bullet, already realizing that this wound was actually much more severe and painful to Heero.

Then, in the light of the sun coming through a small window of their hideout, she suddenly noticed the glow of a small gun bullet stuck tightly and deeply in between the muscles surrounding the edge of his shoulder blade, just around the shoulder joint.

_That's why he couldn't move his arm_. _At least not without an unbelievable pain_.

"I see it," she gasped, actually barely believing she did.

"Good. I need you to pull it out."

Relena swallowed hard, her throat suddenly went dry. "Just like that?"

"Relena…" Heero whispered calmly, letting out a breath, "I can't move my arm with it still in. Just pull it out… No matter what."

Relena bit her lip at his words, in which there was not even a shadow of a doubt, then pulled out her thin knife and just found meat tongs, which she decontaminated with alcohol. She cursed quietly, looking at her hands, both trembling with nervousness and clenched her fists a couple of times.

As she leaned over Heero's back again, she hesitated.

"…are you sure?"

Heero curled his unharmed arm, propped his head comfortably on it, and placed his other hand on the ground, clenching his fist and steadying his position.

"Do it," he ordered.

Relena frowned at the wound, feeling her pulse speed up. The bullet was buried deep in the muscle tissue, maybe even inside the bone; she wasn't sure to tell precisely without any x-ray, because she saw only the very tiny fragment of it's top. It seemed almost impossible to pull it out safely. Not having even a single clue about surgery, Relena tried to plan, in her mind, how she should lead the knife to cut as little tissue as possible, how to grab the pliers to pull the bullet at once... she understood how many mistakes she can do from now on, that would only cause Heero more enormous suffering... She just couldn't imagine the amount of pain she was about to inflict to him, even if she would, somehow, do everything right…

"Don't be afraid. I trust you."

She suddenly heard his silent, confident voice. Though it was him to be in a deplorable situation, Heero's voice sounded as if he was comforting and sustaining her. "I know you can do it. Just get into it."

Relena breathed in, clenching her fingers on her knife, feeling her breathing trembling. "All right."

Heero's body froze instantly at her words; he seemed as if he had stopped breathing at all, readying himself for whatever she was about to do. Deep inside her, Relena realized she was grateful that he was lying with his back to her, and she couldn't see his face.

Taking a deep breath, she eventually lifted the knife and then gingerly inserted it between the bullet and the tissue around it. For the first seconds, Heero didn't move a millimeter; Relena could only notice his muscles tremble under his skin and blood pulsing faster in veins in his neck. But when Relena parted the muscles burned by the hot metal, Heero flung his head back abruptly. His eyes were closed, his teeth gritted, but he made no sound. He clenched his fists so hard that the whiteness of his wrist bones pierced his skin.

"Okay, I got it…" Relena whispered absently, more for herself than for him, focusing her attention on the leaden excrescence in his body; everything could have gone wrong from now on. When she slipped the pliers around the bullet, Heero shuddered and let out a hurried groan. Instinctively, her hand froze still. "Heero..."

"Don't stop...!," he muttered.

Relena closed her eyes for a moment, trying hard to compose herself and chase the remorseful thoughts that at this very moment, Heero was suffering because of her. Because of her selfish, childish stubbornness. Which he, for some reason, didn't oppose…

Relena took a deep breath, then clamped her pliers on the bullet. Then her heart stopped of fear as she realized that the surface of the bullet was slippery, and the pliers would not have enough space to tighten effectively. She had to catch differently.

Gritting her teeth, Relena loosened the handle and slipped the pliers millimeters deeper between the muscle tissues, removing her knife first. The movement caused another twitch of Heero's body, a wild moan stuck in his throat. Relena was terrified and speechless with surprise that Heero hadn't been actually _screaming_ in pain since the very begging. An average person surely would.

"Please forgive me," Relena whispered, and she clamped the pliers around the bullet. It felt more secure now, she realized that it was now possible for her to make it. "I got it… I'm pulling it out," she announced, then pulled the pliers towards herself quickly and firmly, pulling a shiny, leaden element out of Heero's body.

"Got it!" she breathed heavily, her heart flooded by the feeling of triumph and relief. "Oh, God…"

Being finally free of the bullet, Heero took an exasperated breath, then panted loudly. A streak of dark, almost black blood began to flow down from the now-empty wound. Relena tossed the pliers aside, then started disinfecting and bandaging the wound.

"I should have listened to you…" she whispered, brushing a cloth over his wounds. Feeling tension leaving her body, she felt tears forming in her eyes again. "If I did, this wouldn't have happened…"

Heero didn't say anything, still breathing heavily, while Relena was suffering fury over herself. She decided to cut any further talking as it probably didn't have any sense; she quietly swallowed her tears and concentrated on his wounds.

All this time, Heero laid still on his side with his eyes closed; after a few long minutes, Relena heard his breathing gradually steadying. As his adrenaline level probably dropped, he had to rest deeply, maybe even fall asleep or lost consciousness.

Having finished patching up his wounds, Relena slipped a makeshift pillow of her folded shirt under Heero's head, then reached and touched his forehead. She realized with astonishment that he wasn't even feverish. _Incredible_. _How a man could endure such pain_…

She held her hand on his forehead much longer than was necessary to ascertain his temperature, unable to move away, feeling the cold moisture of drops of his sweat under her fingers. His brow was gently furrowed by narrowed eyebrows, his mouth half-open and his fists released, limp on the floor. Relena lazily ran her fingers over his temple, gently caressing his cheekbones, then lifted her hand and sank her fingers into his thick hair, combing his unruly bangs away from his eye line.

Gazing at him, as he was resting peacefully after escaping death's embrace once more, Relena felt herself calming down as well. She felt great admiration for his strength, courage, and endurance. She also wondered how far towards this utterly unusual man her feelings had gone: from hostility, through distrust, respect, and finally love. She could have realized it almost _too late_. It was a close call; she would have lost any chance to tell him how much she loved him.

She wanted him to know. She wasn't sure he felt the same way about her, especially after what happened this night. But in this world, where every hour was uncertain, Heero was the only person she could be sure of.

Relena silently stood up and walked out of the garage to look for water. Some new clothes would have been useful, too.

x x x

_It was supposed to be just a quick, random smuggle. He was supposed to be back by then. By any means. He was always on time, even when he was late. _

_Something terrible had to happen._

_When he didn't return until the sunset, the others wrote him off. "Next time, watch under your feet, or you'll step onto old Odin's corpse." _

_Just like that. For them, he was already a corpse._

_Just after the sunset, the boy went in search of his Father. Not a corpse. _

_He made his way through the maze of the ruined city, which had been held in permanent siege for months. The fight with the enemy took place here on every corner, in every street, in every not yet bombed subway tunnel. Every now and then, the sounds of an explosion came from different directions. The Fireflies and survivors communicated with each other with a series from a machine gun; it was also a signal of endless, daily executions, based on martial law and held by the military. Almost every street was flooded with corpses. Besides, the city resounded with infernal moans and screams of the infected, which benefited from the struggle between people, devouring not only the dead but also the living._

_After a few long hours, the boy checked all smuggling routes he knew; none of them had collapsed, none of them had been occupied by the infected or by the military. The boy didn't eat or drink anything since morning, but nothing could have stopped him from searching. He intended to look under every stone if it would bring him closer to find his Father._

_He found him by sunrise. _

"_I knew that you'd come here. You're truly a stubborn brat," Odin hissed, then he coughed blood on the floor. He was lying with the lower part of his body crushed by debris. The boy knelt and began to clear the rubble. "It's no use..." Odin pointed at the corpse of the Runner lying a few meters away. "Even if you dig me up, this motherfucker had bitten me. I'll turn in a few hours."_

_However, the boy, as if he had turned deaf, didn't stop digging up the debris. Pieces of plaster scattered around and echoed off the thick walls; he kept cutting his fingers against sharp brick's edges. Suddenly Odin pushed the boy back with one steady movement of his strong arm. _

"_I said: stop it. It's no use."_

_The boy slowly rose from the floor, wiping the dust from his face but didn't look up directly at the man. The expression in his bright blue eyes was entirely obscured by the unruly bangs._

"_Don't die," the boy whispered. _

"…_Heero," Odin choked after a second, his face grimaced by an uncontrolled tremble. The bitten wound on his forearm already widened, the veins around were darkening with thickening blood and enlarging rash. "Nobody survived being bitten by the infected. And you're not a kid anymore. You'll be all right on your own." He made a pause, then took a few breaths to even his shallow breathing. "I just have one last favor to ask you."_

_Heero looked up at Odin, realizing what he wanted to ask him even without words. The realization darkened his vision. _

"_No… there has to be the way…" he clenched his fists, hitting the floor with helplessness, wounding the skin on his hands even more._

_As if through the fog, he heard his Father's firm voice as he uttered words that would be engraved for the rest of his life in his heart. _

"…"

_Then Heero slowly rose from his knees and silently drew his gun, aiming at his father's temple. His eyes were absent and torn of any emotion as if he was an empty shell abandoned by life. As if it was him to escape life, not his father. The blue of his eyes obscured the gray, like a curtain, locking up his heart for many years since then._

"_Make it quick," Odin sent a boy a weary smile. "Then get away from here. Remember what I told you. See you again, Heero."_

_A sudden, loud roar of a single gunshot rang over the ruins of the city, raising a herd of crows to the sky. _

_And then there was silence._

x x x

_Heero POV_

His eyelids seemed to weigh several tons; it seemed an otherworldly effort to lift them. For an instant, he wasn't sure where he was or what happened; it's been a long time since he had lost consciousness so suddenly. In fact, he couldn't believe that despite being defenseless for so long, he was still alive. He slowly opened his eyes, gazing absentmindedly around, accustoming his eyes to darkness. The world outside was full of dust and plunged in the twilight; it must have been night. The light of the full moon entering the room caused all objects to cast long, blurry shadows on the floor.

Gradually, as if he was slowly submerging in hot water, his consciousness reached all corners of his body, especially the hand and fingers of his wounded right arm. Heero was laying motionless for a few more moments, waiting for the pain to come, but surprisingly, it didn't. Without lifting his head up, Heero drew one, long breath, regretting it immediately; he sucked the air with the dust off the floor where he was laying. His lungs rejected such a load, and he felt them painfully broad under his ribs as he started to cough badly.

His eyes squeezed by the persistent tosses, he felt the panic rising in his chest, as he realized he didn't know where _she_ was. He felt hot, his body distorting in an attempt to get up.

"Heero," he suddenly heard a familiar, sweet voice calling his name, then the touch on his ribs.

_Relena_…

"Heero, it's okay… Relax."

A warm, delicate hand started caressing his naked side, then slipped up to his arm and neck. Relena had to be sitting somewhere behind him because he couldn't see her, but he could feel her closeness. Heero breathed a sigh of relief, calming his breathing. Then he reached with his left hand and touched his right shoulder blade; the wounds were already neatly bandaged over and under his armpit.

He _still_ felt no pain.

"How long… have I been out?" Heero asked with a hoarse voice.

"Since morning..."

_Way too long_, Heero thought, looking at the night sky outside the window.

He tried to roll himself on to his back, but Relena's hand stopped him from doing so. "No, don't… You still need rest..."

Despite the pressure of her hand on his back, with only a silent grunt, he raised himself up on his hands and sat down, slumped, finally facing her. Relena was kneeling right next to the place where his head was lying just a moment ago, with both hands outstretched to support him if he lost his balance and a worried face.

"Heero, you lost a lot of blood…"

With another grunt, Heero bent over and kneeled, then slowly stood up. Straightening up, he felt dizzy, he also felt a familiar touch on his shoulders, securing him.

"I'm all right," he muttered but didn't shake her hands off.

Finally, when he stood on both feet, Heero reached over his bare shoulder blade again and slowly moved his right arm, first clenching his fist, then raising his arm at different angles and bending it at the elbow. When he did so, he eventually felt pain but didn't even twitch at the feeling; what he felt was actually entirely incomparable to the pain he suffered when a bullet was still stuck in his back. And most importantly, he could move his arm again without his muscles being blocked by the bullet. As he moved his flesh, faster and nimbler, trying all sorts of exercises he knew to warm up his muscles, the pain in his shoulder gradually faded, though it never disappeared at all.

"I didn't think you could have actually move it. So fast after the shot…" Relena muttered as she was gazing at him.

"I've been worse."

"…I can't imagine _worse_," Relena sighed in response, more to herself than to him, then took out her bottle of water and gave it to Heero. "You must be thirsty."

Even if he had actually been dying of thirst for a long time, Heero only felt his throat go dry when she handed him the bottle. After drinking a large sip of life-giving liquid, he gave Relena a short 'thank you' and then looked down, noticing that his body and hands weren't covered in blood anymore, while in the corner of the garage laid a pile of red-colored rags and an empty bucket.

Relena had to notice where he was staring, as she smiled lightly, sitting down at the pile of neatly gathered clothes. "I washed us out. Soon we would start to smell, and I found some rainwater behind the house. I also found us new clothes…"

Heero looked up at her suspiciously then came to the little window, peering outside. The garden around them was quiet, he could see no suspicious movement or sound. "Had anyone seen you?"

"I'm sure not," Relena sent him a grin. "If they did, they'd have been here by now. Come here, we should choose something new for you to wear."

Heero gazed over the window again just to make sure, then walked over to her and sat down on the floor, slumped. He noticed that Relena was already wearing different clothes than before; a gray T-shirt and black pants. He realized she had to stain the previous clothes with blood. Heero gazed at her carefully, taking another sip of water from the bottle she offered him. She seemed all right, maybe a little weary; she had very slight shadows under her eyes, her skin was slightly pale. She had to stay awake all the time while he was unconscious.

"Are _you_ all right?" he whispered silently as he put down the bottle and moved closer.

Relena gave him a surprised, almost shocked look in return, then looked away, hiding her gaze behind the curtain of her blond hair.

"How can you worry about me? You almost died."

Heero narrowed his brows at her, but Relena was visibly running away from his gaze anytime their eyes linked. He reached out and gripped her hand, as she was clutching the material of a spare T-shirt. Despite the warm, summer evening, her fingers were icy cold, and they trembled under his touch as if she wanted to withdraw her hand. It deeply disturbed him, he felt that he was missing something. "Aren't you hurt?"

Her beautiful ocean blue eyes got veiled by the wall of something that resembled wrath and tears, then she shook her head.

"I'm all right," she replied slowly, hanging her head, but she didn't let her tears fall. She tried to jerk her hand away, but Heero held it confidently.

"You're exhausted. I will take guard now, go get some rest-"

"Stop this nonsense! _You_ were shot, Heero! You could die!"

Heero almost squeezed his eyes shut; her unexpected, high voice painfully carved through his brain. He was surprised, suddenly left with absolutely no idea what she got so upset about. Before he tried to speak anything more but her name, Relena continued with an exasperated voice.

"We both almost died because of my decision! Your wounds haven't healed well yet, and you only care about my wellbeing... You should be mad at me! You have every right to be!"

"And what good would it bring?" Heero asked, furrowing his brow.

"It's not about that, Heero," Relena continued. "You're not honest by not showing what you really feel. This could have been avoided if I had just listened to you, and you know it... If only I didn't push you to this…"

Heero narrowed his eyes, finally getting the point. Before he fully realized the feeling that overwhelmed him at that moment, he was already articulating it.

"You didn't push me into anything," he said slowly. He held his voice and continued only after he heard Relena's surprised gasp. "To not kill that woman. To enter the city. To take these bullets for you… It was _my_ choice. Whenever your life is at stake, I want to protect you, even if it means my death."

He spoke out those words so naturally as if he had been repeating them regularly in his head since childhood.

With those words, the ship of his soul hit the rocks; its fate was sealed. And his silent promise ceased to be silent.

The look that appeared in Relena's eyes surprised him; as if a veil fell down from her eyes, and as if her worst predictions were confirmed, she was hurting from the inside out. It was a sight full of fear but also disappointment.

"_Why_ did you do this…?" she asked in an uncertain voice. "Why did you protect me? Is it only because of my... condition? Because I am immune?"

Heero didn't expect this kind of reaction from her. He sighed, then wrapped his fingers on her delicate hand, unclenching her fist, while he desperately tried to wall himself up back behind the wall he built around himself for a long time.

"You shouldn't care about it."

He really meant those words. Ever since he realized her wound was healing, he realized that Relena herself was the hope for the entire world. He had a premonition, a feeling that he didn't understand but which he strongly believed: if his life had to have any sense and meaning at all, it could only be _to save her_, no matter what. He felt he didn't deserve even thinking about having her for himself; who was he to deserve _her_?

Then Relena's ocean eyes glistened again in the moonlight.

"No," she stated solemnly, releasing her fingers from his grip and soothing the back of his hand. "You're the only person I care about. And everything about you matters to me. Whatever your reason was to do what you did, I just can't imagine… losing you."

Heero hesitantly looked up at her at those words. Their eyes finally met, and suddenly, none of them could look away. Then Relena released his hand, slowly scooting herself closer to him. Without leaving her eyes off him, she rested her hands on his thighs, kneeling between his legs, then slowly and gently nestled up to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning her cheek to his temple, carefully touching his injured shoulder. Sensing the familiar warmth, Heero felt that same chill running through his body, and he let her lay his head gently onto her shoulder. Though her hands were still cold, her chest vibrated with calm, soothing warmth and he felt the delicate scent of her skin.

"I won't let it happen again," she whispered, breathing up a trembled breath that he sensed on the side of his neck, just behind his ear. "Heero… I can't hold it back anymore. I want to stay by your side, no matter… if we ever manage to get to Houston."

Her words were like a lump of ice that fell into his stomach. At the same time, she frightened and excited him. His hands slowly encircled her waist, and he tilted his head up, looking her deep in her eyes.

"Relena… I-" he started, but the second his words stuck in his throat, she interrupted him again, placing her finger over his mouth for just enough moment to silent him. She smoothly moved her hand over to his chin and under his jawline, gazing at him with inexplicable longing in her eyes.

Then she closed her eyes and bent her head to kiss him tenderly, her touch blurring the ominous significance of her previous words. Her fear, her passion, her hopes… everything was sealed within this kiss. He could feel it; it felt so different from the kiss they shared before. Returning the kiss, Heero savored the warmth of her lips and tightened his arms around her, drawing her closer to his chest, tangling his fingers in her golden strands. He felt her hands as she raked them through his hair at the back of his head and the back of his neck. Absorbing her warmth, relishing it, Heero felt her body suddenly tensing under his touch.

The ship was sinking, and there was no turning back; although it was still afloat, turbulent waves flooded the interior through the shattered side, devouring her, drawing her deeper and deeper into the depths. Relena was like water, slipping inside mercilessly, gradually reaching every recess of Heero's soul.

Breaking the kiss, Relena drew back, resting her hands on both sides of his neck and then slid them up, gently cupping his face. He looked up at her, gazing at her features as they softened in the pale moonlight.

"Relena…" he breathed, raising both hands and soothing her hair on both sides of her face. She leaned into his touch, her eyes half-closed.

They were now only one hot breath away from each other.

"Heero," she breathed his name, opening her eyes again and fixing her gaze solely at him. "I want _you_, Heero." She was looking up at him with the eyes of a person standing on the edge of a deadly threat, whose life depended entirely on his decision - whether he would reach out to her and pull her over the edge, or let him fall into the abyss. He saw uncertainty as if she was allowing the possibility that he would push her away. "I…"

His own heartbeat almost knocked him out; he realized what she wanted to say. Strange anxiety ripped his chest apart, as he realized that he had to face the words, that Relena would probably say aloud in a second.

All this time, he was convincing himself that listening to her voice… looking at her… touching her… even kissing her… would be _enough_. That he won't allow himself anything more. But right then, in that very moment, Heero didn't find the strength to even wait and let her finish her words.

It all _wasn't enough_ anymore.

Cradling the back of her neck with both his hands, he pulled her to him until their lips joined again. Relena's voice died down, she let out a silent but surprised whine as he pushed his tongue inside her mouth. Heero nestled her to him, kissing her more profoundly and more insistently, and he could feel her arms sliding around his back again. He savored her, feeling the tide of excitement plunge over his chest.

Without breaking the kiss, he felt as Relena tightened her hold around his neck and, with the assistance of his confident grip, in two smooth moves, hiked her legs up over his so that she was now straddling his lap. Then she immediately leaned into him, returning a kiss even as much eagerly, clinging to him desperately. Heero's hands slowly drifted from her knees, through her thighs and up to her sides. Hooking the hem of her shirt, he flickeringly ran a hand over the silky skin of her hips, his touch instantly causing her goosebumps; he found it intriguing. He suddenly remembered the memory of her bare skin at the river and how she reacted to his every touch, as it tensed sensually under his fingers. Feeling her through her clothes, as she shuddered at every contact, wasn't satisfying for him anymore.

In a swift move, he grabbed the hem of her shirt and took it off. That caused them to break the kiss, and he took the opportunity to look at her. With disheveled golden hair, her slender body sprawled on the top of his lap, slightly panting from his kisses, she was the most beautiful view he could imagine.

He felt her hands pressing against his chest, and he allowed her to gently lower him back down on the floor. With his hand still wrapped behind her upper back, Heero pulled her with him until she braced on his chest, her face inches over him, his golden locks encircling her face. He brushed his open hands over her chest to her gorgeous naked breasts, cupping them gently in his palms. Relena flung her head back at the feeling, exposing her neck, and Heero took the opportunity to pull her closer and press fierce kisses on the base of her neck. She shuddered at the touch of his lips on her sensitive skin, letting out a surprised moan, her body arching downward, pleasantly pressing against his flesh.

Encircling his arms around her again, Heero bluffly rolled them over so that he was now above her and deftly, hurriedly, started undoing and taking off her shoes, then pants. With each item of clothing off her body, he paradoxically felt more impatience and excitement to finally see her _whole_ within his reach, his possessive sight devouring every inch of her exposed skin. Having thrown aside the last piece of garment, Heero hovered over her again, wanting to take a moment to cherish the view. She was beautiful, gorgeous, her eyes darkening in navy blue as she looked back at him; he let his eyes wandering over her slender, naked body, now trapped between his arms.

Then Relena reached out to him, and Heero bent down to kiss her again, brushing a strand of unruly hair off her face. It wasn't chilly in the room, yet he noticed that Relena started to shiver. He broke the kiss and let his hands and mouth trail the smooth line of her neck, stopping for a mere second at her bitten wound, then down on her collarbone, breasts, rib cage, hips, and belly, then lover, to her lap. She was slender and petite, so delicate. As he was going down, Relena suddenly crossed her arm over her chest in a futile attempt to cover herself at least a bit from his possessive sight; she had her eyes closed and looked away. Heero noticed that and grabbed one of Relena's wrists.

"No," he said with a hoarse voice, prying her hand away from her body. Relena gazed back at him, but meeting his confident look, she didn't say anything.

Heero gripped Relena's other wrist and pulled both her arms up, pinning them to the floor on both sides of her face, then licked his way down from her neck to her breasts. As his tongue touched her silk, hot skin, he felt her hips and legs wriggle slightly under him. The exasperating sound she made when he sucked her in could make him come undone even now - but it was a plea for more. So Heero continued, giving her skin a soft bite and nestling himself between Relena's bent legs, over her naked lap. Her instinct and her body seemed to know better of her as she arched her back up, her lower belly and thighs grazing against his pelvis.

…_he wanted her so much._

Dipping his fingers between her legs, Heero gasped almost inaudible curse, realizing how ready she was for him. A want in his guts reached his zenith, and he couldn't wait any longer; it's been a while since he was intimate with a woman. Without bothering to take off his pants, he swiftly undid his fly, and positioning himself at her entrance, he eased himself into her.

However, the second their bodies united, Relena let out a pained gasp and stiffened, pressing her fingers deep into the skin of his forearms. Her inside was so tight around him, and her legs helplessly approached each other, clenching at his sides, while she whined his name silently.

He realized. He was her first.

He froze and looked down at her, searching for any sign of resistance, but Relena just hid her face in the crook of his neck, still holding him tightly. Shaking off in the blink of an eye the unreal and almost mystical impression that this realization had made on him, Heero snaked his one arm around Relena's leg and lowered over her again, capturing her lips in a fierce, passionate kiss, a second before he drew himself deep inside her.

Relena let out a moan that got muffled by his kiss. Heero felt her body tensing, her fingers clenched into a fist on his chest. He refrained himself from even the slightest further movement and kissed her with all the tenderness he had, patiently waiting for her pain to pass.

"Relena… Let it go…," Heero whispered, his voice rumbling in his throat when he broke the kiss and brought his lips close to her ear, his other hand softly caressing her neck and chest. He pressed the side of his face to hers, and soon he could feel her tears on his cheek. Relena breathed loudly, then wrapped her arms around his neck.

"…I love you, Heero."

.

.

.

.

.

.

_Mommy, where's Daddy? _

_He had to leave._

_Why he's not here? He doesn't love us?_

_That's not true. Daddy loves you very much, but he can't be here with us._

_If so, would he ever come back?_

…_I don't know, Heero._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_What happened, Heero? You can't sleep? _

_I'm staying awake all night._

_You will be very sleepy tomorrow…_

_So what. I have a mission to accomplish. I have to guard. _

_A mission? What do you have to guard?_

_You can go to sleep if you want. I'll stay awake and make sure that none of these crazy people come here and hurt you._

'_Crazy people'? Who are you talking about?_

_Those we saw on television. I will protect you, Mommy. No need for you to worry._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_No… there has to be the way…_

_From when we first met, when you lost your mother, you were like a son to me. I protected you. I hoped that you would survive as long as possible. That maybe you will survive this hell. That maybe in this damn world, you will find some happiness. That was my way of living my life. You have to live your life now. Act on your emotions, Heero. Just like I did. _

… _*the sound of the cocking gun*_

_Make it quick. Then get away from here. Remember what I told you. See you again, Heero._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_I love you, Heero._

_._

_**Love… it's such a thing that simply doesn't exist**_.

.

He had nobody.

His biological father. His mother. Odin. All of these people left too soon; too soon for him to say consciously if he ever _loved_ any one of them. And he was brought to a world where everything was killing him, where he was prepared to die every single day, and where there was surely no place for such a thing as love.

At least that was what he kept telling himself. This was making things easier. It summed life as a handful of cells and meat, subsided it to the law of the jungle, to every day's feeling of hunger and thirst. Living for the sake of living, from the smuggle to smuggle, nothing more. Meaningless life, after losing which no one, including him, will cry.

Yet, Relena's words stoked back a burning flame deep inside Heero's body, which he supposed was long gone. He had never felt like this before.

He pulled back, frowning intently on her. She was so pure. Good. Full of light. She was offering herself, her body, and innocence to him, though he got absolutely nothing to give her in return… except for his miserable life. And she, even when she was lying on a floor, surrounded by dirt and the darkness of night was shining like a precious, royal jewel.

And she loved him.

Now he could feel her body loosen up, she widened her legs for him, her breathing evened, and her tears turned into a smile, while his body burned with an inner fire that was almost eating him alive, craving for the pleasure of her warmth.

"Heero…" Relena whispered, then raised her hands and ran them along the sides of his face, her fingers gently brushing his unruly bangs away. Their eyes linked again, and Heero caught one of her hands in his, pressing kisses on her tiny finger pads before letting his lips descend on hers.

As he moved in her, claiming her body as _his_, he felt her clung to him as if he was the last living man. Relena wrapped her legs around his hips, pressing him even closer, her arms around his back, her hips rocked up harder and faster against him, her breaths dense and hot against his skin. As if she wished her whole body melt together with his.

Making love to her, he felt his soul finally soothing. As if she was saving him, making him want to live with every touch, for her every touch. He knew-_ he felt _\- that she belonged to him.

In fact… her love was everything he had.

* * *

TBC

Wow, this chapter was looong, but I hope with it, I made you up for the long wait for the update. This chapter required a lot of effort from me. All this time I had a lot of work to do and I hardly had any free time for myself. Plus, I had to read the story several times, trying to catch all the stupidest language errors, which are not lacking since English is not my native language. But in the end, my heart was soothing as well, as those two are finally together…

I hope you liked the chapter. Thank you in advance for all your support, I cherish them and every feedback helps me become a better writer… I at least hope so.

Take care and see you in the next chapter.


	25. Chapter 25 - The Beginning x

**Chapter 25 - The Beginning**

He had barely slept that night; he wasn't sure if his instincts had alerted him, or he simply had slept well sooner. He went on in his semi-conscious state until the morning sun broke into the line of the sky, and birds started twittering outside the tiny window of their bolt hole. They were still well hidden in the back of the garage, behind the pile of cardboard boxes.

Lying prone, his chin propped on his folded arms, Heero frowned lazily at dust particles floating in the air, as they glistened in the rays of the rising sun. His vision was partly obscured by his unruly bangs, but he didn't mind them, didn't move to brush them away.

As never before, he couldn't focus his thoughts on anything specific; he felt a strange, inner peace, the surprising pleasure of not thinking about anything. And that wasn't the only new thing in this seemingly ordinary morning.

He turned his head and gazed at Relena. She was lying on a blanket right next to him, on her back, one of her hands resting open close to her face, the other on her belly, her chest gently rising and falling with each breath she took. Her golden hair was sparkling in the shy light of dawn, spilled around her head like an aureole. She had a long, loose shirt on her; nothing else.

Heero took a deep breath, sensing her delicate scent lingering all around him in the morning air as he cast the deliberate glance over her body. She was beautiful… she was the most beautiful, gentle, and caring person he had ever known. Even in his dreams, he couldn't imagine anyone who'd compare to her. He had never expected such a person to appear in his life. Heero realized that he already couldn't remember well what his life was like before he had met her; before he had started falling asleep every night and waking up every morning near her, admiring her in silence, minutes before she opened her eyes. His thoughts came back to that moment when she was lying cuddled to his side, half-asleep, with her hair still damp and lips swollen, her body radiating with hotness from the aftermath of their lovemaking.

_I won't let anything wrong happen to you again_.

He gave a silent sigh at the memory of her bold statement, so unfit for her innocence and their so-called division of roles. Heero propped his temple on his laced hands and continued gazing at her. He realized that this time, there was really a close call; everything could have ended tragically. Next time, he won't let them take that risk. She won't let her. Not for his own sake, but for her purpose.

Next time he might not be able to save her.

This awareness eclipsed his vision for a moment; he blinked away the chaos deep into his soul. Relena's eyelids quivered when another bird chorus came from the yard. He guessed that she would wake up soon.

At that moment, he was still stubbornly silencing the feeling he already sensed in his heart; neither he knew if this feeling was ever enough to compare to even a molecule of her affection.

But he knew one thing: he wanted her to feel _loved_.

As if his thoughts snapped her from a peaceful sleep, Relena furrowed her eyebrows, then slowly opened her eyes.

x

_Relena POV_

_._

The sight of his deep, Prussian-blue orbs was the first thing she saw after she had opened her eyes. Sun rays lit in his messy hair and bangs that were falling on his eyes. With his head propped on his crossed arms, Heero was gazing at her with a peaceful, a bit thoughtful look. It was so unmatching to him as if he was daydreaming.

The very moment their eyes met, Relena smiled at him.

"Awake already?"

His eyes sharpened at her and Heero hummed in response, his voice slightly muffled by his shoulder. Hearing this sound, Relena chuckled merrily, and Heero suddenly smiled back at her, his lips turning up at the corners just above the line of his shoulder and his eyes never leaving hers. Relena felt a pleasant wave of heat spreading inside her, and she gazed back into the eyes of the man lying next to her. A man, who, from now on, in a sense, will be _hers_ forever. The man, who took absolutely nothing from her last night, but offered her a part of his heart. The heart whose secrets she was still unveiling.

Relena lazily rolled onto her side, studying him. She felt so naturally comfortable and safe in his presence, even when she was actually wholly defenseless. His eyes were still full of soft and loving contemplation; she almost couldn't believe he could look at her this way.

But that was the fleeting moment. Soon something sober already started creeping inside his conscience, tearing Heero back to the harsh reality and eclipsing the blueness of his eyes.

"We have to leave soon. We've lost a lot of time already."

"I know," Relena sighed. "Do you think they're searching for us? The Fireflies?"

Heero looked away from her, propping his chin on his hands again and gazed ahead of him.

"For sure. That's why we need to move quickly. After their warm welcome, I don't want to bump into them again."

"Me neither," Relena sighed and scooted closer to him, wrapping her arm around his back, gently touching his bandaged wound. The bandage was dirty with dust and only slightly soaked in blood. Like usually, injuries seemed to heal on Heero impossibly fast.

"Before we go, I need to change your bandages," Relena said silently, cuddling up to his side. "You've got a little dirty overnight."

She added the last part of her sentence with a shy grin, kissing him in his back and then rested her temple on his shoulder blade, just below his bandages. Who would have thought that only a day before, he was almost paralyzed by severe pain? Who would have thought that several hours later, they would become one?

Her first time had been more painful for her than she had expected. Subconsciously she had felt that it had also been confusion for Heero; she had sensed it in his movements, his breath, and eyes. He had acted as if he had hesitated for a moment, in a purely caring sense of the word, not wanting to hurt her. She had held him close, grateful that he had slowed down and gave her a moment; she had felt safe in his arms, her body encircling him, welcoming him. And as soon as the initial discomfort had passed away, Heero made love to her passionately, wholeheartedly, caringly - his actions sounding louder than the words he hadn't say.

Tracing her fingers featherily over his skin, Relena closed her eyes, hearing the steady pounding of his heart. She listened intently to this lovely beat, feeling his skin so pleasantly warm under her cheek.

"Heero…" she finally said with a hesitant voice, opening her eyes and staring idly somewhere in front of her, over the line of his back, "about what Dorothy said to you… that night on the police station…"

"Forget her," he suddenly interrupted her. She could hear his heavy voice rumbling inside his body. "None of what she said was true."

Relena lifted her head and sent him a silent chuckle, resting her chin on his arm, her face right next to his ear.

"I actually didn't mean _that_… what you're thinking," she said with a playful smile and continued after Heero remained silent. "Dorothy said something about searching for immune people, just like me. Are the Fireflies looking for the vaccine? Or a cure?"

She heard Heero tap his fingers against the floor.

"A few years ago," he started, "this suspicious type approached me with a job to smuggle out several eggheads out of the zone. Some engineers, biologists... I didn't ask about the details, because in the end, I didn't take on the job."

"Why is that?" Relena asked playfully, tousling his hair on the back of his skull as she instantly felt interested. She hooked her leg over his waist, just above the line of his black jeans. "They couldn't afford you?"

"Partly yes," Heero muttered, sending her a quick glance over his shoulder. Relena smiled, realizing that he apparently didn't mind her playing with his hair. "And partly because they wanted it done fast, and I had other things on my mind at the time. Later I heard from other smugglers that this group was heading to Houston. And this guy who had been talking to me then… he was hanged a few days later on the streets of Philadelphia. For being a Firefly."

"And the group? Did they leave Philadelphia safely?"

"I don't know," Heero said silently, "and that actually might be a good sign."

Relena propped her chin on the top of his upper arm.

"This could mean… that Dorothy was bluffing when she seemed surprised hearing about the laboratories," she reasoned.

Heero intertwined their fingers and propped his chin on the top of their joint hands, still gazing somewhere in front of him.

"It's possible. It would be strange if the Fireflies were searching for the cure and didn't know about the existence of laboratories, especially if they were constructed by a Peacecraft family."

"Would the Fireflies team up with the Peacecrafts?" Relena tipped her head up and raised her both eyebrows in surprise and resent. "A militia group, armed to the teeth, shooting everyone who doesn't agree with them, would team up with somebody from my peaceful-minded kin?"

"Putting everything on ideological terms, you're committing a logical error, Relena," Heero pointed her mind. "Fireflies are now much weaker than the military, they are practically scattered around the continent. Finding a vaccine or a cure could bring them a strong political influence. They would get enormous power as they would be able to decide about people's lives. To get it, they will come into line even with the pacifist Peacecraft. Or they'll take over the laboratory from their dead body. Survive the fittest."

Relena mulled his words, and she realized that it was hard to disagree with him. It was probably not the first time in history that diplomacy had to bend under mindless violence. Especially in the times that were then.

"Heero," Relena sighed, nestling her face into his shoulder again, caressing his side with her hand. "How am I supposed to ever make my father's dream a reality? Does anyone else in this world wish to bring the Earth back to normal?" she asked, her voice almost sounding desperate.

After a moment, Heero wordlessly rolled himself on his side, facing her. With a bare torso, an unbuttoned button in his black jeans, a slim but muscular sketch of his abdominal muscles, he looked _more_ than appealing. Relena's eyes followed up to his face as he studied her features with the same intense look as if he would about to declare war on the whole world.

"You're not alone in this," he said solemnly, clutching her delicate hand still in his strong one. "As long as I'm breathing air."

Relena smiled to him, feeling comfort flooding her heart. She bent her head and pressed a kiss to Heero's knuckles, trapping him between her both hands. Just like she expected, he didn't withstand it long; soon, he gently but confidently slipped his hand out of her grip and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him. Relena furrowed her face into his chest, letting Heero gather her and roll onto his back so that she leaned partly on top of his bare chest. She sensed as he sank his fingers in her long locks, and she became overwhelmed by the mesmerizing, manly scent of his skin.

After a peaceful moment of silence that seemed like an eternity, Relena disentangled herself from his embrace and looked down at him, cupping his face. The morning sun softened his handsome features, but the war blue of his eyes remained intense.

"I really wish I had listened to you, Heero," she said with a saddened voice. "We shouldn't have helped Dorothy."

Saying this, Relena tipped her head, gazing at his bandaged wounds. She was still sorry about what had happened after he agreed to escort Dorothy to Atlanta.

"I knew you wouldn't listen to me."

Relena lifted her eyes at him, gazing at him expectantly.

"As soon as that girl appeared, I figured you wouldn't let hurt her, even if she had wanted to harm you first," Heero continued, holding his voice for a moment. "If I were to say I hadn't had a bad feeling, or that I had agreed with you, that would be a lie. But back then, I felt that I would rather accept the worst consequences of this decision than kill somebody in front of you _again_."

Relena stared at him, as Heero raised his hand, brushing the fringe from her eyes and combed an unruly strand of hair behind his ear. She guessed what he meant. She remembered the infernal corridor in an abandoned mall in Baltimore. And the deathly frightened eyes of the miserable man when he begged for help second before Heero pulled the trigger.

And what she called him then.

"I don't want to see the look in your eyes that I saw back then ever again, Relena. I don't want you to think of me as a murderer," Heero whispered, tracing his finger over her features as his eyes sharpened and darkened. "But, I won't call back what I said yesterday. If your life is ever at stake, I won't hesitate. Relena… I'll do anything to protect you."

She felt her heart stir fiercely at those words. She remembered the words all too well; that he would _take bullets_ for her. And what he was vowing now; that he won't hesitate to _kill_.

Relena wanted to resist him, pull him away from these nightmarish intentions, but looking into his eyes, she guessed that she won't change him in one day.

She had time for that.

"If that's a promise… then I want to promise you something, too," Relena started solemnly, catching Heero's hand in both hers and pressing them to her heart, feeling tension speeding her heartbeat. "Together, we'll successfully reach Houston and deliver the vaccine there. It will be multiplied and made available to everyone. Soon it will cure the world, eradicate this ghostly disease. I'm sure…," she hanged her voice for a moment, smiling to him reassuringly, "that this nightmare will soon come to an end, and you'll wake up in a world where you'll live in peace and harmony. You'll enjoy every breath. You'll cherish the sole fact that you're alive. And you'll never have to kill anyone… I promise you that, Heero."

Heero gazed at her in silence, his eyes flickering with sudden, unreadable emotions. Then he made a sigh and sent her a soft smile as if he wanted to oppose her.

"That's actually a _lot_ of promises," he noticed.

Relena eyed him, feeling her cheeks burn with a blush.

"That's… everything you've got to say?" she gasped, stumbling for the first time, feeling irritated, suddenly intimidated by his small-minded reaction. "So, it's a routine that one promises you the salvation of the world? You know, so what if there are a lot of them, I'll -"

She didn't finish her sentence as Heero pulled her close to him and silenced her with a kiss. After a moment of shock, she chuckled against his lips, then let him roll them over and give a worthy continuation to what they started the night before.

She didn't regret that she let him have the upper hand this time.

x x x

_Then_

_._

Dusk fell over the city of Atlanta when a group of twelve men stormed into the backyard of a small house in the southern suburbs of the city. They were armed to the teeth as every one was holding a rifle or a gun. They moved forward lightening the road with flashlights. Tin dog tags in the shape of night moths adorned their necks and glistened in the faint moonlight.

One of the men suddenly stopped the unit and kneeled in the deep grass just behind the fence. He brushed the grass away with one movement of his hand, revealing a brown stain on the background of light sand, and then a fragment of the trace of the footwear directed towards the yard. The trails were taking them in the direction of a small garage near the two-storied house.

The man whistled softly, then gave a series of orders with quick, mute gestures of his hand. Twelve dark, menacing, hunched silhouettes silently moved towards the building. At the man's sign, all members of the gang scattered, slowly surrounding the garage from all sides and entrances.

After a moment, the tin garage door was pushed in with a loud bang, and six men ran immediately inside, searching through every recess and all corners of the room. They combed the garage violently but quietly, without a single word.

A few seconds after, one of them got out of the garage and walked to the tall, long-haired blonde woman standing right at the entrance.

"They aren't there anymore," the man checked in with a sloppy saluting.

Dorothy Catalonia cursed under her breath, then pushed the man sharply aside and quickly entered the garage. The sound of her heels rang inside as she headed for the corner of the room. The inside was plunged in the moonlight, but she raised her flashlight.

Kneeling, she noticed the traces they were looking for: bloodstains, dirty rags, and torn clothes… _traces_ on the dusty floor.

Dorothy took a deep breath, sucking air in her nostrils like a hound.

"It smells of blood here... and sex," she muttered under her breath, sucking in the air even more eagerly as if it was intoxicating her. "So this little slut wanted to try out what it tastes like after all…"

She stood up abruptly and walked out of the garage, then directed her steps to the corner of the garden, at the end of the property. Her commander was standing under a high tree next to the broken fence, surrounded by other Fireflies.

Dorothy stopped in front of the man, and after having saluted him, she gave her report.

"The traces are still very fresh, they couldn't have run far from here. Not with a gunshot wound that he got. He's undoubtedly strong, but he had been shot _twice_," she concluded. "Give me two troops, and I'll bring them to you- "

"Forget about it, Dorothy," replied the loud, male voice of the commander, his figure still standing in the shadow of a spreading tree. "We were blown away once when we had them so close. Such a defeat is not allowed to happen again."

"But...!"

"Enough. I've made a decision," the tall man interrupted her, stepping out of the shade of a tree. Moonlight illuminated his long, light hair and icy eyes. His voice was cold and low like a breeze of icy wind. "We know for sure where these two are heading, and there is no future for us in Atlanta anymore. No more waiting for the better moment. We need to finish what we started."

Dorothy bowed her head respectfully, biting her lip in anger surreptitiously.

"Prepare our men," the man ordered, "we are heading out right away."

.

* * *

TBC

Happy Valentines!

I just realized that I'm writing this story during the Coronavirus epidemic raging in Asia...

I know that you wish that Heero and Relena reach Houston safely and as fast as possible… well, there's a bunch of things that are going to happen before that, and I can't tell you now if they ever reach Houston :) If you wish for a near and quick end, I must disappoint you. And if you like long stories and would like to continue this journey with Heero and Relena… you surely won't regret it!

One last thing I would like to say is about Relena's promise to Heero - that she'll bring him the peaceful world, where he won't have to kill. I realized that this promise is traveling with them through time and space, in every universe, and it always matches them. That's why I love this couple - their bond is symbolic and beautiful, their personalities just fit each other perfectly, and it's a pure pleasure to write about the development of their relationship.


	26. Chapter 26 - The Evergreen Gates

**Chapter 26 - The Evergreen Gates**

_July_

The road they followed was boring to the limits and predictable for many, many kilometers. Single-band, straight, with trees in line on both sides, endless - still disappearing somewhere beyond the horizon. They passed meadows, fields, old farms, forests, groves, small clusters of ground-floor single-family houses, and caravans.

And every single day, the sun shone mercilessly, hindering their journey.

They hadn't found any supplies long since. They had eaten blueberries found along the way, which had already been running scarce. But more importantly, they were quickly running out of their water supplies.

Eventually, they arrived at a point where the road that they had been following for several days split into two branches going in entirely different directions.

Heero stopped at the crossroads, looking around, searching for the smallest sign that stood the test of time and could give them a hint of where to go next. Relena rested under the shadow of the nearby tree while he searched the undergrowth for any signpost, even broken. But the area seemed untouched by human existence, except for the asphalt road dipping in a deep forest, and tilted stumps of electric poles, now thickly overgrown with ivy.

"Fuck," Heero cursed silently. Drops of sweat were dripping down the back of his neck. For the first time since they left Philadelphia, he wasn't sure which way they should turn. Under normal circumstances, a decision of this kind wouldn't seem so burdensome; if they turned wrong, they could have turned back after a few kilometers. However, in this sun, with such a shortage of drinking water, a wrong decision could mean death. And they had to replenish their supplies immediately.

Heero glanced at Relena; her cheeks were red from the sun, her lips chapped from the heat; she showed first signs of dehydration. Heero knew, and it was almost apparent, that eating so little in recent weeks, she has lost a lot of weight too. Now Relena almost looked ill; she had dark circles under her eyes and red cheeks.

"There has to be a town somewhere nearby," he said as he walked over to her. "We will look for supplies there."

Relena lifted her weary oceanic eyes at him and sighed deeply.

"Just a moment, Heero. Please... It's so hot…"

Heero refrained himself from rushing her and dropped to his knees right next to Relena, hiding his head in the shade of a tree. He pulled his water bottle out of the backpack and immediately passed it to Relena.

"And you?" she immediately asked, her voice obviously concerned.

"I just drank," he lied and almost pressed the container into her hands, then watched Relena tilt it to her lips and drink the precious liquid, swallowing hard. "Drink to the end," he urged her, without the shadow of hesitation. When she had finished, he indifferently took the empty bottle from her. "Now come."

They turned right at those crossroads.

Although the high wall of trees around them indicated that it wasn't land without water, its only sources they had found lately were narrow embankments, half-filled with moldy rainwater, and a few polluted streams. The rain supposedly hadn't rained in the area for a long time. The drought was intense, and because of the lack of a map, they didn't know where a possible lake or more significant river could be located.

Heero was walking ahead, as usual, his watchful eyes scanning the space ahead of them, looking for any sign of warning or signpost that would tell them where exactly they were heading. He straightened his hearing to Relena's sliding, slow steps behind him. She wasn't looking sideways like she always did; her head was bowed, she was hiding from the scorching sun by escaping towards the shade of the trees at every possible opportunity.

Finally, they came out of the woods and reached the edge of something that looked like the first settlements of a small town, one of many similar in southern Alabama. Also, a familiar sight appeared on the road: abandoned cars and other vehicles with personal belongings scattered around, traces of the evacuation routes from the town. Then the trail they followed turned off, and more houses began to appear. Most were chained up, and their doors and windows boarded up - residents of small towns, such as that one, which was reached by the virus later than large cities, had much more time to secure their property. The people were confident that, after the evacuation, they would return to their homes for their belongings. No one thought that most of them wouldn't even reach the quarantine zones before they got infected.

Heero made several stops along the way, routinely breaking into some of the estates looking for supplies. He even managed to find some food, but he still couldn't find water, which they desperately needed. When he walked out of another building into the sun-burned yard, he noticed the remains of a white skeleton of the unfortunate dog left by its owners twenty years ago, next to the ruins of a shack. The thick metal chain was still stuck out with an eyeless skull, full of white fangs. Field crickets sounded far too loudly in Heero's ears as if they were grilling on the burning sun. Heero's sight hung on a skeleton, apparently for too long, because a moment later, he heard Relena's worried voice tearing him out of his trance.

"Heero?"

He looked up and rubbed his sweaty forehead with his hand, brushing away his unruly bangs, then walked out of the yard onto the street to the tree under which Relena was waiting for him. He looked up at the sky, but it was perfectly clear, not a single cloud that could herald rain.

"We need to find some water," he admitted the palpable truth, standing over her and rubbing his face. He began to see dark spots before his eyes because of dehydration. Relena said nothing at his words, just bowed her head in resignation, didn't get up to join him. Heero held out his hand to her. "Stand up, Relena."

She didn't respond to his words.

"Get up!" Heero barked of impatience to her, then he bent down and grasped her by the shoulders, hoisting her up to a standing position. She was light and limp like a rag doll; it seemed to him that if he stopped holding her, she would collapse. "You have to walk. If we stay here, we may as well shoot ourselves a bullet in the head."

Relena looked up at him, with her half-unconscious gaze.

"I'm sorry."

She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, leaving wet marks on it. Seeing this, Heero put a hand on her cheek, realizing with terror that even his hand was colder than the skin of her head.

"Just don't cry anymore," he admonished her. "You're losing water faster."

Relena nodded, then followed him toward the dusty, sun-scorched highway.

The road led to more and more densely built-up town, they passed more residential and official buildings, abandoned shops. The sun traversed the sky and stopped at its highest point when the town they were traveling revealed its name: _Evergreen, Alabama_.

Heero paused just before the intersection, which looked like one of the major intersections in the city and looked around. He brushed his bangs off his forehead; he realized that something was very unusual in this city. The chaos that usually prevailed in the towns of sorts here seemed... some kind of orderly. Abandoned cars didn't stand arbitrarily, but were arranged in a logical sequence, reminiscing barricades or an obstacle course. The same the overturned electric poles.

…_poles_...!

Heero jerked his head up and strained his hearing, trying to pick up in the seeming silence of the Alabama afternoon, interrupted by the buzzing of cicadas and the cawing of ravens, that _one sound _he was looking for when he suddenly heard a deaf thud behind him.

He whipped his head around, noticing what happened, then ran a few meters back. Whether by stumbling or from exhaustion, Relena fell to the asphalt, panting heavily. Heero crouched beside her and helped her sit up, then held her face in his hands.

"Relena-"

"I just tripped, Heero…" Relena said almost in a whisper, her eyes half-closed. She grasped his forearm and slowly sat down with his help. "I'm sorry…"

"Shh," he shushed her, then pressed his forehead to hers. The skin on Relena's face was dry and hot as the asphalt they were walking on. "Listen."

They both held their breaths for a moment, listening.

When the sounds of their hearts and their breaths were drowned out, when the west wind died, and cicadas stopped their crescendo for a moment, they heard _it_ in the short pause between the buzzing of beetles.

Metallic reverb, or a hum, coming from somewhere above their heads.

When Heero was certain that Relena had heard the same thing that he had, he looked up intently at the high voltage pole above them.

"Electricity…?" he heard Relena gasp with a shock. "Here…?"

"We have to follow the high voltage lines. That's how we'll find people. And water," Heero summed up.

"But Heero, how is it possible to have the electricity in such a place? And how do we know who these people are?"

"It doesn't matter now. If you don't drink something, you're going to die," Heero interrupted her, clasping her hands in his. "We have no choice, Relena. It can't be worse than it is now-"

Suddenly, as if the universe wanted to mock them, Heero heard a familiar, ominous sound behind him: a quick, nervous patter of feet and loud wheezing. Then Heero saw Relena's eyes widening in terror as she stared over his shoulder at something behind him.

He whipped his head back, noticing a miraged, multiplied four dark figures of men approaching, rushing towards them like bullets.

"Don't move," he ordered, turning around and kneeling on one knee. He drew the sweaty bangs from his eye line, pulled his rifle off his back, leaned its buttock on his shoulder, pressed his cheek firmly into the stock, and aimed towards the approaching points. He could feel drops of sweat running down his cheek, the steel of the rifle, already warmed-up from the sun, burned his fingers. Relena tightened her hands on the material of his shirt. Resting his finger on the trigger, Heero focused on the quivering air in front of him and the dark silhouettes of men that soon merged into only one Runner that was approaching inexorably, his prolonged howling echoing in nearby streets and from neighboring houses.

Heero didn't shoot his rifle until the Runner came only a few meters away. The sound of the shot scared away all the crows hidden in the crowns of nearby trees. Shot in the head, the torso of the infected ran a few more meters, tumbling just before Heero's feet.

When the sound of the shot died down, there was a silence of a few seconds. It seemed as if even the beetles and cicadas fell silent. But then they heard that terrifying howl again.

Much louder.

Heero jumped to his feet, holding a shotgun in one hand, and lifted Relena off the ground with the other.

"Run!" he ordered in a hoarse voice, then pushed her before himself, right in the direction of the line of wires.

To his relief, Relena found some more strength in her to flee.

Already running through the intersection, he saw a group of infected approaching them, running out of nearby houses, shops, and bus stops. They were all pulled down by the sound of a shot. Heero fired at them with a few blasts from his shotgun, then kept on running, loading the gun with the new ammo.

To his surprise, they quickly left the center of the town: the remaining power lines led to the western suburbs. Again, the strict buildings were replaced by the overwhelming vegetation of the surrounding forests.

However, power lines clearly led in _this_ direction.

"Don't stop running, Relena!" he shouted, "Just follow the cables!"

He turned back to the infernal hordes chasing them, this time shooting at them with his gun. He knocked down two or three of them, but the rest still inevitably was approaching them.

"Heero!" he suddenly heard Relena's terrified voice, "the line ends behind this gate!"

He looked ahead, and the view he saw surprised him.

They were approaching a high, wooden wall defended by a few meters high metal gates, half-covered with ivy. Just behind the gates stood another high-voltage pole, on which the tangled wires ended and went further in several directions.

They ran to the gates, and Heero hurriedly searched for any staple, door handle, or even a keyhole.

_Nothing_. The gates were thick, bare sheets of black steel, covered with rivets reminiscing those used to steam off steamers. The wall was as tall as the gate, and it went on in both directions as far as the eye could see, cutting them every route of escape.

"It's locked!"

Relena whipped her head at the hordes that ran after them.

"Heero, they're here!" she gasped with a trembling voice, gripping her gun. "We're trapped here!"

Heero grasped his rifle in both hands and hit the metal gate with it as hard as he could. Several times. What answered him was only an echo on the other side of the gates.

"Fuck!" he cursed loudly, then turned around. He walked a few steps briskly and stood right before Relena, between her and the approaching horde of monsters. Lifting up his rifle, he aimed at the first infected that ran up the driveway in front of the entrance and fired.

He kept taking them off one by one until his rifle got stuck.

"Relena, get out of here! Just run!" Heero screamed, pulling a gun from behind his belt, reloading it, and aiming at the approaching monsters again. He fired accurately; every fired bullet found its target, and if it didn't kill the infected immediately, it at least stopped it abruptly, giving Heero enough time to re-aim and polish it off.

But the infected just kept coming.

"No!" he heard Relena's voice, unexpectedly firm and devoid of fear. He heard gunshots from her gun flying next to him, as she started shooting the infected shoulder to shoulder with him. "I won't leave you!"

These words almost tore his consciousness to shreds, but his instinct proved to be stronger once again; she _had to_ survive. Heero cursed angrily at her stubbornness, then reached out and pushed her abruptly far behind him, shielding her from the unexpected and violent attack of another infected.

"Run!" he shouted between the shots. "You can't die here! You can't ruin everything now!"

When another infected ran into him, Heero briefly realized that he wouldn't be able to turn back even for a second to see her one last time or to check if she had listened to him. He accepted it, wishing heartily that the silence behind him was the sign that she had ran.

_Goodbye, Relena._

He resumed the shooting, but missed; the Runner approached him and ripped the weapon from his hand. At the last second, Heero managed to dodge before its claws, simultaneously flooring it with a massive blow with a shotgun buttock.

He backed away, avoiding the blow of another approaching infected, and shot blindly right in the middle of its head with his second gun. This time, stepping back, he felt the resistance of the metal gate behind his back.

There was still a large group of infected before him. _Too many_ of them.

It was over.

_So this is how he's going to die_.

Suddenly, in all this tumult, he smelled the familiar, flowery scent in the thick air. Still standing up against the approaching infected, shooting his last bullets at each that came too close, he felt the touch of Relena's body when she stepped in close, leaning with her side to him and shooting the infected.

"Relena-" he drawled, half angrily, half _relieved_, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, then reloaded his gun, loading in the very _last_ ammo he had.

"I won't leave you," he heard her voice. "Not today or any other day."

.

* * *

What's going to happen?

In the following chapters, the story enters an entirely new phase. I will try to update the next chapter faster, but I can't promise that because I have a lot of work. And being a perfectionist in writing in a foreign language without beta is indeed a challenge.

A big 'thank you' to everyone who follows the story, and especially all my reviewers!


	27. Chapter 27 - The Evergreen Survivors

**Chapter 27 - The Evergreen Survivors**

Suddenly a loud thunder from dozens of shotgun barrels blared high above their heads.

As the rain of bullets fell, the roar of the infected got interrupted within a split of a second as if someone had disconnected the beasts from the electricity. They were tumbling to the ground, shot with one or two bullets, their bodies exploding with fountains of blood.

Heero gathered Relena up, then whipped around, pressing her to the wall and covering her with his body against the rain of bullets and the infected. Incessant shots were thundering in his ears, bleeding corpses were coming down all around, some of them only a few inches behind his back. In this chaos, Heero could hear Relena's scream as she curled up in his arms. He tightened his embrace around her, protecting her head and letting them slid to the ground under the wall.

The shots continued until every infected in the square in front of the gate fell dead. And then, as suddenly as it all started, a silence occurred.

Still wrapping his arms around Relena's hunched body, Heero eventually looked up and around them. There was no doubt; they were the only living beings in the driveway of this high gate. The sun-scorched earth around them was all strewn with infected corpses, whose blood quickly soaked into the dry soil.

Heero grabbed Relena by her shoulders and brushed her hair away from her face.

"You ok?"

She nodded her head, still in apparent shock.

"What… just happened?" she gasped.

Heero said nothing, then tilted his head up. The midday sun blinded him quickly, so he shielded his eyes with his hand, and soon he noticed black silhouettes of men standing at the top of the gate, a few meters above them.

"Who the hell are you?"

Those were the words that one of the men at the top of the gate shouted to them. He was tall, slim, dark-haired, with long, brushed bangs. He still had a smoking shotgun in his hands, this time aimed at Heero and Relena.

"What are you looking for here?" he continued.

Heero didn't say anything, still covering his eyes from the sun, as he eyed the men at the gates. The man that spoke to him seemed to be the leader of the group; he was surrounded by six other men, each aiming at them with a long weapon, but none dared to speak.

Trying to get up, Heero slowly shifted his weight from his knees to his feet, but then he heard the clang of the reloaded weapon high above his head.

"Stop where you are, or we will shoot," the man with the fringe shouted before Heero had the chance to even open his mouth. "Discard the weapon and get on your knees, hands behind your head."

Staring feeling already sick and tired because of the never-ending threat to his life, whether it was from the infected, people, or the burning sun and high temperatures, Heero understood that for Relena's good and sake, this time, he couldn't afford himself any idle games. Although the threat from the infected was averted, it was still hot, and they didn't have a drop of water.

He obediently stopped on his knees, putting his gun on the ground and entwining his hands behind his head.

"The girl too," the man with the fringe barked.

Heero gritted his teeth with irritation but looked down at Relena. When she looked up at him, the midday sun blinded her, too.

"Do what he says," he whispered.

Relena obediently knelt down and put her hands behind her head, then lifted her chin up proudly, looking up at the men. Her expression, her sunken eyes, and red cheeks reminded Heero that the only thing that was still holding her up was the adrenaline; even before this exhausting struggle and flight, she was on the verge of exhaustion and dehydration.

Heero felt the scorching sun on the back of his neck. He had to do _something_. Immediately.

"Thank you for saving us," Heero said aloud, as politely as he could, still looking up but blinking because of the blinding sun. "We made our way through the town in search of water and were suddenly attacked. If you have water... even a bottle is enough for us. And we will go our separate ways."

The tall man studied them for a short while, never stopping aiming at them from his gun, just like the other men.

"You're a strange couple," he suddenly said, "who are you? Where do you come from?"

That moment Heero noticed that Relena's breath had changed; she wasn't breathing quickly as if after a run-down run anymore but kept catching short, silent, and desperate breaths, too rarely… She looked back at him, pleadingly, with narrowed eyes.

_Damn._

"We're from the QZ of Philadelphia," Heero shouted back. "Please…"

"Fuck you, man!" another guardian suddenly shouted, waving a gun at them. "Half of the continent! There is no fucking way you would go this far!"

Heero shot another side glance at Relena. She closed her eyes and breathed through the open mouth, swaying on her knees. She had only little strength to keep her hands wrapped behind her head.

Heero gritted his teeth, drops of sweat running down his forehead.

"Please, give us some water…" he muttered slowly.

But he was interrupted again.

"And where the fuck do you think you're going? The South Pole?" another guardian was laughing his ass off them.

"No wonder, I would go to the end of the world with such a pretty chick!" another added.

Both comments raised a wave of loud laughter among the armed comrades, except for their tall, fringed leader, who stood perfectly still, his eyes never leaving his target.

Relena's breath was now only a quiet, fading whistle. Suddenly, her arms dropped to her sides, her head fell back, pulling the rest of her body with it. Her lips stopped in the shape of his name.

Heero felt a surge of blind fury build up inside him.

"Fuck it," he hissed angrily.

"HEY! What did I say?"

"On your fucking knees!"

A series of loud, aggressive, male screams cut the air, warning shots were fired into the sky and then into the ground around him, but Heero didn't care. He abruptly got on his feet, catching Relena's already limp body in his arms the second before she tumbled on the ground.

"On your knees! Hands behind your head!"

"You all fuckin' blind?!" Heero barked hoarsely, gathering Relena in his arms and rising from his knees. "She can't stand it anymore!"

"On your knees! Or we will shoot you like a dog, you punk!"

As Relena's unconscious head rested on his collarbone, he was shocked by how hot it felt to his skin. Completely disregarding the loud warnings coming from the top of the gate, he looked down at her face, and the sight almost made his heart stop. Relena's beautiful honey hair was tangled with moisture, her delicate, little lips were chapped, her eyebrows stilled in a grimace of pain. Her whole skinny body radiated with glowing heat.

He wasn't sure if she was still breathing-

Heero felt a shadow of desperation luring deep inside his chest that he had never felt in his life, even when he was surrounded by a horde of infected. An animal, aching groan stuck in his throat, but he clenched his teeth, preventing him from going outside. Then his mind got veiled by a torrent of blind rage.

His head jerked up, his eyes narrowed as he glared at the men.

"I don't care about myself," Heero shouted loud enough for his words to break through the screams of the guards. He concentrated his murderous glare on the tall man that was standing the whole time completely silent, frowning at him with his emerald, cold eyes. "But harm a single hair on her head, and I'll kill you all. _Each _and_ every_ _one_ of you."

He meant those words then like he ever did in his whole life. The sun reflected off the barrels of shotguns that were positioned with the aim at him, blinding him; he heard the sound of overload and silent curses. Blood pulsated in his head.

"That's enough."

A tall man with a brown fringe and emerald eyes spoke up after a few seconds, reaching out his hand and pulling the rifle of the nearest shooter up in the sky. The other guardians, though reluctantly, did the same.

"We surely won't shoot a defenseless man holding a woman in his arms, right?"

Heero kept his head up, his and the tall man's eyes never breaking contact. They both almost stopped blinking, staring at each other and sending mutual aggressive but silent looks. Heero realized that if he could somehow bring this man down, he would kill him with his bare hands.

Meanwhile, the curiosity started slowly creeping in the green eyes of the man saw.

"I can't say that I believed your story entirely, but you've surely come a long way, and you deserve to be helped," he spoke loudly to Heero after a few more seconds. "We will open the gate for you and get you water."

At that moment, the men retreated behind the wall, out of his sight. Only two of them stood in their positions, still aiming at him from the rifle. Heero looked down at Relena and pressed his forehead to hers; she was still disturbingly boiling hot in touch.

"Hold on, please…" he whispered.

Finally, from behind the wall, a loud roar sounded, and after a moment, the high metal gates made a deep, prolonged moan, opening outside just in front of Heero.

Right in the center of the gateway, all the guardians stood lined up in a row, each of them aiming straight at him. Heero bowed his head, eyeing everyone with the same unfriendly gaze. Glancing up to make sure that no one was going to shoot him down, he headed slowly toward the strict line of people, carrying Relena in his arms.

Suddenly the tall leader came out from behind the line of guardians, carrying a bucket of water and several white rags. Seeing him, Heero quickened his pace, but he stopped abruptly when all the guards reloaded their weapons at him.

"Stay where you are. For now, you can't go any step further," the man said.

Heero obediently stopped, then knelt down, carefully placing Relena's legs on the ground, but still holding the upper part of her body in his arms. Then the green-eyed man came up to him, placing a full bucket and rags in front of him.

"If you run out, we have more," he informed.

Heero, however, listened to him no more. He frantically grabbed a tin bucket, pulling it as close as possible to him; the gesture was violent enough for the guardians to aim at him again.

He grabbed one of the rags and dipped it in the water, feeling his hair go crazy at the contact with liquid; the water was icy cold as if it had flowed out from under the glacier. His moves were quick and hurried, he knew he was fighting unequal struggle with time. He only hoped it wasn't too late… Heero barely soaked the rag and moved it to Relena's forehead and her neck.

He felt her body wince slightly.

"C'mon…!," he muttered silently under his breath. He moistured the cloth again and brought it to her lips, squeezing the life-giving liquid into her mouth. Then he moistured two other towels, hiked up Relena's tank top a bit, placing them over her liver. In the meantime, he also poured water in her mouth several times.

Finally, he felt her body shiver strongly, and Relena regained consciousness, taking a deep breath, coughing up excess water, then hanging on his shoulder. Heero sighed an inner breath of relief.

"It's all right now… breathe…" Heero whispered reassuringly, caressing Relena's trembling shoulders, while giving the guards around him, including the green-eyed leader, a death stare. As Relena evened her breath, he brought a bucket closer to her. "Drink," he ordered.

For the first time, probably from extreme fatigue, Relena didn't resist him in any way and silently leaned over the bucket, drawing a handful of water into her mouth. Heero felt the very sound of dripping water squeezing his dry throat, but he didn't twitch. His eyes never left the tall guardian, still standing in front of them.

"Impressive. You won't touch the water until she's finished," the tall man noticed, crossing his arms on his chest. "You didn't lie about not caring for your life. I have seen you fight. You're strong. Maybe you'd like to join us? It would be good to have such a fearless companion here."

Heero kept eye contact without a single blink.

"Go to hell," he said hoarsely.

His words raised a dissatisfied murmur spread among the men standing around. The tall man frowned at Heero, apparently surprised.

"You want to leave? In this state? After we rescued you both?"

"No," Heero glared at him. "After you almost shot us and almost let her die of thirst at your doorstep."

"A saucy son of a bitch!" there came the wild shout from the other guardians. A dozen men waved menacingly in the air, pointed fists at Heero. Heero didn't even flinch, but he felt Relena's fingers curling around his arm.

"Get the fuck out of here! You and your bitch!"

"We don't want you here! Get out!"

"What is going on here?!"

Suddenly all the screams faded away, the cordon of guardians parted slightly, and a short, fair-haired man with somewhat childish features entered the square. All the men looked at him with undisguised respect; he looked like a leader, perhaps even more decisive than the emerald-eyed man.

The blonde man frowned at Heero and Relena, then gazed above their heads to notice a sea of infected' corpses on the other side of the gate and, clearly shocked, turned to face the tall man.

"What the hell happened here, Trowa?! Who are these people?"

"Quatre," a tall man with a fringe, apparently carrying the strange name of Trowa, turned to him, then pointed at Heero and Relena with his chin. "These two have brought a whole horde of infected to our gates. Fortunately, we have repelled the attack."

"Well," Quatre sighed deeply, looking through the gate at the battlefield, "so this is how ends up not having to regularly check the area for the infected."

His bright eyes stopped again on Heero and Relena.

"Are you both all right? Are you hurt in any way?"

His simple-hearted words, so natural in ordinary circumstances, aroused indignation among the guards, but in his presence, it was obviously much quieter than earlier.

"They showed no gratitude for saving their lives!"

"Let them go to hell!"

"Whoa, whoa, relax, guys," Quatre raised his hands, reassuring the group, then he slowly turned his steps toward the newcomers. His trusting behavior clearly disturbed Trowa, who watched his every move with a cautious eye.

Quatre stopped about one and a half meters from Heero and Relena, then crouched, coming abreast with them.

"I don't know what exactly happened here, but we can probably start from the beginning. You look tired. Who are you, and how did you get here?"

Heero didn't answer immediately but measured him with hostile and distrustful eyes. The guy was clearly different from the rest of his company; he seemed likable, good-natured, and peaceful. He almost seemed a representative of a long-lost species. Heero calculated that making him an enemy would not do them any good.

"We're from the Philadelphia QZ," he began with a hoarse voice. "We have been on our way south for several months now. Here, in the city, we were attacked by the infected. We escaped and reached your settlement… That's all."

Quatre frowned. "Are you saying you have already crossed half the continent? Alone?"

Heero didn't answer, giving him a blank look in answer. He already knew what this conversation would lead to and what the next blond question would be:

"Where are you heading, then?"

"It's our business," Heero replied automatically, keeping his poker face.

Quatre leaned back slightly, but a friendly expression never left his eyes.

"Well, we're still strangers to each other. This can change. Let me introduce myself: my name is Quatre Raberba Winner," he tilted his head slightly.

For a second, Heero thought that there was something aristocratic about this man's gestures, something he had only seen in one person. He also noticed that Relena slightly flinched at the sound of the man's name.

"And this tall man behind me is Trowa Barton. You came to our home, Evergreen, which we founded three years ago. Now, who are _you_?"

Heero was about to speak when Relena lifted her head from the bucket and measured the blonde with incredulous eyes.

"Quatre...? " she whispered.

The blonde man turned his eyes to Relena, surprised, and the two frowned at each other. When Relena brushed the unruly strands of hair from her face, Quatre's blue eyes widened with disbelief.

"I know your face..." he muttered. "You are...!"

"Quatre!" Relena's tired face lit up with a smile. "I'm Relena! Relena Peacecraft!"

* * *

TBC

Happy Saturday!

It took me a long time to write again. I had so much work during a week that I didn't know what to put my hands in.

Our lovely couple arrived in a fantastic place. They avoided death again, but did they make new friends? Will they stay here? Why Relena know Quatre?

You will find out in the next chapter!


	28. Chapter 28 - The Childhood Friend

**Chapter 28 - The Childhood Friend**

_Relena POV_

Seeing Quatre Raberba Winner for the first time in ages, Relena's childhood memories became so bright that they seemed six-dimensional. She almost could smell the spring garden in which they had played, she could hear the barking of a dog which had been running after them, the warm wind that had brushed her braided hair. She couldn't believe that after twenty years, she met her most significant childhood friend again. Though their childhood was brutally interrupted and taken away from them once and forever, it seemed that they both still cherished those beautiful memories.

Quatre looked at her, his eyes glistering as if he had a revelation.

"So the rumors were true!" he laughed, then approached Relena and held her wounded, tired hands, still wet with water. "Relena! You're alive! And you're here! Is your family...?"

Relena shook her head with sadness.

"Father is dead. I don't know what happened to my mother and Milliardo. And you…?"

Quatre frowned at her with a similar, sad look, then cheered up again, as if chasing away negative thoughts.

"Of the whole Winner family, only I survived."

"I see," Relena whispered, then smiled back sadly, squeezing his hands back. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

She truly was.

The Winner family, from which many ministers and statesmen derived, had always supported the Peacecrafts in their peace policy. They firmly believed that the military scientific institutions' research of the on _Cordyceps Brain Infection_ virus should be suspended immediately, or should be subjected to the supervision of public authority, or at least, that the research for the cure should be held simultaneously. Their voice, though significant, was silenced by the army, which sought to continue working on this biological weapon until it got out of hand. This eventually led to an outbreak.

Relena remembered Quatre's parents very well: the handsome, tall father and the beautiful, always tastefully dressed mother. They visited the Peacecrafts' residence in Washington every weekend for the afternoon tea, and during that time, Relena was playing with Quatre in the gardens. She liked this blond-haired boy. He was an excellent companion of all their childhood games, and she also confided in him everything. From what Relena remembered, Quatre had a large family, including many sisters, so he had natural ease of contact with girls. They quickly had become friends. Then the outbreak destroyed this untroubled childhood world.

Right then, when they were still by the Evergreen gates, Relena realized that the people of Evergreen that were standing around them started pointing their fingers at her and shake their heads in amazement. What's more, they were repeating the name "Peacecraft" from mouth to mouth with undisguised surprise and excitement.

Subconsciously, she didn't feel the hostility in their behavior, but simultaneously, she didn't fully understand why her presence in Evergreen had caused such a flurry. She was also amazed by the number of people who gathered around them. It seemed that a large group of people found shelter here.

In the meantime, Quatre looked questioningly at Heero, then again at Relena.

"So, you're traveling together?"

Relena glanced back at Heero, who was kneeling on the ground beside her, not saying a single word for the whole time. He watched the blonde man with his sharp, observant, impenetrable eyes from behind his brown bangs, sipping a handful of water from the bucket from time to time.

She reached and rested her hand on top of Heero's shoulder.

"Heero, Quatre is my childhood friend, mine, and the Peacecrafts'. Quatre, this is Heero Yuy," she introduced him, feeling her cheeks blush a bit. Her voice died for a second while she wondered _how_ she could express in just a few words how much this man meant to her. "He saved my life countless times, last time only a few minutes ago... He accompanies me on my way south from Philadelphia."

Quatre grinned merrily at Heero and courtly held out his hand to him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Heero."

Heero sent the blonde man a suspicious look in return; he didn't shake his hand, limiting himself to a slight tilt of his head. Quatre's hand hung in the air for an uncomfortably long moment before Quatre laughed nervously and withdrew it, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, I think I have yet to deserve your sympathy..."

Watching this scene, Relena chuckled softly, as she realized that the Quatre she remembered from her childhood - everlastingly cheerful and amicable - hadn't changed at all. Except that he was now a grown-up man, wispy and slender, his face with a disarming smile reflecting his good-tempered attitude.

"Quatre...?" Trowa suddenly interrupted them and walked over from behind, still holding his gun. His attitude and expression made it clear that he didn't fully understand what the whole confusion was all about.

"We're so lucky," Quatre announced, loud enough for other people of Evergreen gathered on the square to hear him, then he rose from his knees, helping Relena to stand up. He also reached out his hand to Heero, who, however, didn't take it and stood up on his own. "For the first time in a long time, no beasts or hunters came to our gates, but friends. Long-lost friends. I hope you'll all welcome them here."

Relena looked around uncertainly, realizing that wherever she looked, she saw only happy faces, and the name "Peacecraft" rang above the heads of the residents of Evergreen with a distinct hint of hope, like good news. Then Quatre turned to face Heero and Relena again.

"You're probably exhausted. We invite you to stay here, in Evergreen. You can stay here as long as you want- "

"Not so fast, Quatre," Trowa whispered nervously to the blonde, then pulled him aside a little bit, "we still don't know yet if they're not infected."

That very moment Relena felt the bite on her neck begin to pinch her, and she barely fought the urge to reach and scratch this place.

Obviously, she had no mirror, that's why she wasn't sure what the wound looked like now. The last time she had touched it, all she had felt had been a distinct thickening at the place where the infected's teeth had pierced her skin - as if a scar had begun to form. She wasn't sure of it, though; it might as well have been still red and congested. Since they had been wandering in the wastes for weeks and Heero had been the only person who could have seen the injury, she hadn't pay attention to it.

One thing was obvious, though. The wound certainly didn't disappear without a trace. What's more, it was easy to find.

And once it is found, assumptions will be easy to make. And Relena honestly didn't want a repetition of Dorothy's scenario from Atlanta…

"Right," Quatre sighed with distraction at Trowa's words and addressed Heero and Relena again. "Please understand. It's a matter of our security. We can't let you come between us if we aren't sure you don't have bites."

Relena felt panic squeeze her heart. What should they do? Once Quatre turned his gaze away from her, Relena caught Heero's glance and sent him a frightened look. Heero narrowed his eyes at her; he must have understood what she meant.

"Close the gate. Send a few men outside to burn the corpses," Quatre ordered to his comrades, and a few men briskly walked to the gate and started closing it. "Please go to this gatehouse," Quatre said to Heero and Relena, turning around and pointing to a small wooden building next to the stairs leading to the fortification. "You'll be thoroughly checked there."

"Relena- "

Suddenly Relena felt Heero's hand gripping her own as he dragged her toward the already closing gate, behind which the outside world was slowly disappearing - a world burned by the sun, with no water and safe shelter. Deadly dangerous world. But with the road leading them each day closer to Houston.

In the blink of an eye, Relena understood what he wanted to do. Going back on the road, leaving Evergreen as soon as possible, seemed a lesser evil: better than staying here and letting them discover the wound and try to kill them or harm in any way. But Relena realized that right now, as they were both exhausted, a further journey meant death.

At that very same moment, she felt that it was her turn to trust her intuition and save them. An idea sprouted in her mind, and she decided that she needed to take that risk. So she jerked her hand from Heero's grip and whipped around.

"Quatre," she called, stopping her friend. "We need to talk to you..." she suspended her voice significantly. "In private."

Quatre looked back at her with an unchanged, gentle expression in his eyes and smiled comfortingly.

"Sure, right after you're checked, we'll talk."

"No, wait," Relena insisted with a pleading voice. She heard the mute bang of the closing gate behind her back. There was no turning back now. "We need to talk _now_."

Quatre glanced at Trowa, then at Relena and eventually Heero, clearly surprised of her unexpected behavior. Trowa eyed the newcomers distrustfully, casually grasping his weapon with his other hand. Fortunately, the other residents were focused on closing the big gate and caused enough confusion to keep the trio from attracting attention to themselves.

"What's going on?" Quatre asked, his voice apparently concerned.

Relena gave him a pleading look.

"Quatre, I'm begging you."

The blond man seemed confused. He exchanged glances with Trowa. Relena was sure that the tall, green-eyed man shook his head slightly as if he was trying to say 'no'; however, eventually, Quatre shrugged.

"Well... all right. Come on."

He headed in the direction of a wooden building just by the wall that looked like a kind of gatehouse. Relena with Heero followed Quatre together, and Trowa followed them all, never leaving his sight off them, clutching the weapon in his hands. Relena looked surreptitiously at Heero, seeing the consternation painting on his face. For a moment, she almost lost confidence that she had done the right thing.

Upon opening the door, Quatre led all of them inside a dark, quite low room, with a small window overlooking the square, crammed with various boxes. There were stairs in the corner, leading probably to the upper floor of the wall. There was also a pleasant coolness here, despite the heat outside.

When they entered the building, Quatre leaned on the wall next to the window, Relena and Heero stood in front of him, while Trowa closed, then guarded the door.

"Well," Quatre started, "now tell me what's the matter."

Relena turned her eyes to Heero, hesitantly. He watched her with a slightly worried look in his eyes, his both fists clenched. She knew he had already guessed what she was about to do; he didn't do anything to stop her.

She took a deep breath, then brushed her hair back and exposed the side of her neck.

Quatre and Trowa watched her for a moment, their faces painted with surprise. Then, after a few seconds, Quatre's face distorted in terror.

"Is this...?" he eventually sighed, his voice dying in his throat.

Trowa kept his poker face, then drew his weapon in a flash and aimed at Relena's head.

"You know what that means."

Even before Relena could take a breath, almost the same second, without a shadow of hesitation, Heero walked and stood between her and Trowa, the form of his slender body shielding her from Trowa's gun.

"Should I understand that _you_ don't need to be checked at all?" Trowa asked mockingly, but with a deathly-icy tone, switching the safety off his gun.

"Just wait till I hunt you down in hell," Heero drawled in response; his voice sounded cold and terrifying, like an icy gust of wind.

"Quatre…," Relena began pleadingly. "Please, you must hear me out…"

From behind Heero's shoulder, she saw the embarrassed face of a confused friend, who clearly didn't understand what was going on. In her heart, she wasn't surprised by this. She would surely behave similarly in those circumstances.

"Relena, you got bitten, right?" he asked. "Do you know what that means?"

"I had been bitten over _a month ago_, Quatre."

Quatre and Trowa gave Relena a shocked look as if they were processing what she had just said. Her words, loud and clear, rang in the room, and they were followed by a long, disturbing silence. The air in the room swelled with tension that grew stronger with each passing second.

"That's impossible," Trowa suddenly muttered angrily.

"That's true," Relena continued, almost breathlessly, slowly stepping from behind Heero's back and standing right next to him, unafraid of Trowa's gun still aimed at her and shrugging off Heero's hand that wanted to stop her. "It happened at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina. It's been a month, and I haven't turned."

She eyed Quatre, who stood silently gazing back at her, then found enough courage in herself to scowl at Trowa, right over the barrel of his gun.

"That time, Heero was aiming at me too, just like you are now, Trowa. For the rest of my life, I'll be thankful that he didn't shoot."

Trowa narrowed his eyes at her, then he shifted his green eyes at Heero.

"She had been bitten by the infected, and you didn't polish her off?!" he ground out to Heero in a mocking tone, then looked at Relena again. "You really want us to believe this bullshit? Just because you're a Peacecraft doesn't make you an exceptional human being. _Nobody_ lived being bitten by the infected."

Relena's heart shuddered.

_Why you didn't kill me, Heero?_

Trowa's words sounded way too familiar to her. They triggered the echoes of the memory of that fateful, starry night, and a question that she asked Heero so many times since then, yet which was still left without his answer.

She glanced tentatively at Heero, suddenly hoping that he'd actually say something that would answer her question. His eyes were heating with blue fire; if sight could kill, it would surely take him only a mere second to murder Trowa in a million various, highly-drastic ways.

"She's not lying," Heero muttered, his eyes never leaving Trowa. His fists were clenched so hard that the whiteness of his knuckles' bones was piercing through his skin. "The Runner attacked her right before my eyes. Since then, I didn't leave her side. She didn't develop any of the symptoms."

Though he avoided Trowa's question, his eyes remained sharp and menacing, impenetrable.

"Why should we believe any word you say?" Trowa barked. "Just give us _one reason_ why."

Heero closed his eyes for a moment, as if he tried to regain control of his anger and ignore the aggressive Trowa, then shifted his gaze to Quatre.

"Quatre," Heero called out to him, "come closer to her. Look and see for yourself. This wound _heals_."

The blond man glanced at Heero as if he had just ordered him to insert his hand in the fire, while Trowa snorted in disbelief.

"That's crazy!"

"Quatre, I _can't_ do you any harm," Relena continued unflinchingly. "If I could and wanted to infect you, I would have done it five minutes ago. When you were holding my hands."

She looked confrontationally at Quatre, trying to read his emotions. She knew he indeed feared her; he was giving the impression as if even staying with her in one room was slowly filtering spores into his body. It hurt her, seeing the way her beloved friend looked at her. Relena bypassed Heero, ignoring Trowa, who was still holding her at gunpoint and made two steps in Quatre's direction. She looked Quatre straight in the eye, lowering her hands to her sides.

"Please… Quatre."

She realized that she could do nothing more. Either Quatre believes her, or Trowa will kill them both.

Finally, something in Quatre's green eyes twitched. After another moment of hesitation, he slowly passed Trowa and headed towards Relena.

"Quatre," Trowa gasped uneasily, making a step as if he wanted to stop him. "Don't do this-"

The blond-haired man raised his hand reassuringly at his friend, then slowly approached Relena. She instinctively stiffened as he lifted a hand to the level of her collarbone but stopped it abruptly in the air.

"May I...?" he asked for permission.

Relena smiled with relief and in agreement, then Quatre gently, but with perceptible uncertainty, brought his hand nearer to Relena's neck, pushing back the unruly strands of hair. His bright eyes were focusing on her as he studied the wound carefully. Relena stood utterly still and quiet, her own heartbeat thundering in her ears in anticipation. Right next to her, Heero was also standing still, cautiously watching Quatre's moves as he grazed his fingers over Relena's neck, while Trowa was holding her still at his gunpoint.

In this perfect silence that fell in the room, although Relena didn't see Heero face, she thought she had sensed something predatory in the sound of Heero's breathing as he watched her, being touched by another man; this realization made her feel goosebumps.

"That..." Quatre suddenly whispered, without looking away from her neck, "that's impossible, but…"

Relena nodded.

"Yes, that's _impossible_."

Quatre looked up at her with a sincere gaze, letting his hand fall to his side.

"I do know what a bite wound looks like," he said quietly, "how it changes, how it begins to widen, how it sips blood of a strange, almost dark color. How blisters appear on the skin. And finally... when a person loses control over his body."

Quatre hung his voice, and Relena noticed a distant reflection of pain in his eyes, that Quatre tried desperately to chase away, deep within his soul.

"Do you believe me now…?" she whispered, searching his face.

"I believe you," Quatre declared, a warm smile appearing on his face, "and I'm genuinely happy at the same time because it means that you're immune to the virus, Relena. You are the first person I know who survived the virus infection," he suspended his voice significantly, "and at the same time, the last living Peacecraft. It's an amazing twist of fate."

Relena felt a prick in her heart when he mentioned her family. So he probably didn't have any information either whether any of her family was behind the laboratories. When she opened her mouth to tell Quatre about Houston, and the vaccine that she was still hidden inside Heero's backpack, Heero interrupted her, stepping closer to her.

"You've got your proof," he said dryly, looking confidently at Quatre and Trowa, who slowly lowered his gun. "You can help us. We have suffered from a shortage of food and water for many days. We don't have any more ammo. But above all, Relena needs a good rest. She's exhausted because of the road."

Relena looked up at him, realizing that it wasn't probably the best moment to tell Quatre about all their plans. Heero's face betrayed that he was exhausted too, and could barely stand on his own feet either.

She grabbed his hand and addressed Quatre with a smile.

"Will you accept us, Quatre? Only for a few days."

"Are you kidding me?" Quatre smiled widely, "of course you can stay here. You will rest today, and tomorrow I will show you around Evergreen and tell you everything."

Relena's heart was flooded with relief that almost knocked her off her feet, but Heero's confident grip on her hand kept her still standing.

_Finally,_ after all these months, they were safe. At least for some time.

"Thank you, Quatre…" Relena sighed, her voice visibly breathless, as she leaned on Heero.

"You truly are exhausted," Quatre summed, then turned to face Trowa. "Trowa, please, ask Catherine to look after Relena."

"And… what about Heero?" Relena asked anxiously, still grasping Heero's hand, while Trowa hesitantly looked out of the room they were in and called for someone to call 'Catherine.'

"So you've called it… It's one of the rules in Evergreen," Quatre explained, "men and women generally occupy separate buildings. If you're not a family, you should adapt to this."

Relena raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Why does it matter?" she gasped, shooting a sideways glance at Heero.

"That's our rules. We all agreed that they are necessary for such a big community to prosper properly. So that everyone concentrated on the wellness of the commonalty, not only their own," Quatre explained, crossing his arms on his chest. "But you don't have to worry, Relena. You'll just sleep separately and perform some community responsibilities. Except that, you can be inseparable."

Relena turned to Heero, clenching her hand to her chest. Heero, however, stood still, not looking at her or objecting Trowa and Quatre in any way. The thought of them being separated disturbed Relena, even frightened her. They had been inseparable for months, and though they had gone through so many dangers, it was this moment that worried her the most.

Her anxiety must have quickly and bluntly reflected on her face.

"You'll be fine here, believe me," Quatre smiled at Relena. "You just shouldn't tell anyone about what happened to you. A piece of news like that shouldn't be revealed."

At that very moment, the door to the building opened, and a tall, slim girl entered. Her thick, luxuriant auburn hair reached her shoulders. She was wearing denim shorts and a tank top, and she had the brightest eyes Relena had ever seen in a human being.

"What is it, guys?" she asked cheerfully, then wiped her sweaty forehead. "Gosh, it's so hot today."

"Catherine, those are our new residents, Relena and Heero," Quatre introduced them. "Could you take care of Relena? She's tired after the journey, let her wash and go to sleep."

The girl named Catherine grinned widely and amicably, then ran over to Relena.

"Don't worry now, you are safe here," she said, as she grabbed Relena's hands. "Come with me, we'll share the room."

Relena returned the smile uncertainly. Catherine seemed utterly different from all the girls she knew so far. She was beautiful, relaxed, cheerful, tanned... she denied with her whole being the destruction and plague that lasted at the gates of Evergreen. Nevertheless, when Catherine jerked her hands, Relena didn't move.

"All right, I'm coming. But I would like to talk to Heero first."

Quatre, Trowa, and Catherine looked at themselves knowingly but then nodded.

"Sure. I'll wait for you," Catherine announced and left, while Quatre and Trowa stood at the door, with their backs to them, leaving them free space.

Relena slowly turned to face Heero again and stepped over to him. She gently nestled up to him, breathing in his comforting scent as he slowly snaked his right arm around her shoulders. Right now, the thought of separation caused her to feel a sense of panic that was hard to describe.

"Heero- " Relena whispered as she pressed her cheek to his chest. She wanted to say something, but her voice hung in her throat. Maybe because of fatigue.

"Don't worry. Everything's all right," Heero said, his thumb brushing her shoulder, while he pressed a kiss on the top of her head, "go with that girl, lie down, regain your strength. I'll be around you all the time."

Relena drew back and looked up at him with worried eyes.

"How?"

"Trust me," he whispered, his Prussian blue eyes fixed on her, then grabbed her both hands and gently pulled them away from him. "Go."

But Relena didn't want to let go of him so quickly. Although he was pushing her gently away from him towards the door, she approached him and kissed his cheek. Then she released his hand and walked toward Catherine, who was waiting for her just outside the building door. She gave her a cheerful smile.

"All right, so, this is what we'll do. We'll bathe you first," Catherine said, grabbing Relena by the hand, "and then you will eat something and go to sleep."

Relena felt mesmerized by all these things that Catherine was describing to her, but looked back over her shoulder again; inside the dark building Quatre, Trowa and Heero remained. Her eyes locked at Heero; his gaze was calm, and he nodded slightly in her direction.

"Come on, Relena," Catherine hurried her, "let the boys talk."

x x x

_Heero POV_

When the girls left, Trowa closed the door behind them without saying a word, then returned to his spot next to Quatre. Silence fell in the room anew, interrupted only by muffled sounds from outside. As if from the touch of a magic wand, the facial expressions and behavior of both men changed radically, and Heero sensed it immediately, as he scowled at them.

Apparently, Relena Peacecraft deserved special treatment; he did not.

"Who the fuck are you exactly?" Trowa asked in a slightly irritated voice, placing his hands in a confrontational way on his hips. "Why are you here with her?"

Heero stood still, clenching his both fists, staring at both men with indifferent, cold eyes, but he didn't say anything.

Quatre frowned patiently at Heero with his arms folded over his chest while Trowa began to stroll around the room, watching Heero closely, clearly incapable of hiding his irritation.

"Answer me. Are you a Firefly?" Trowa asked aggressively, and when he again didn't get an immediate response, he began to approach dangerously close towards Heero, sending him an unwelcome gaze. "Or maybe you're from the Military? What are you planning? Start talking or get the fuck out of here."

"Trowa, stop," Quatre interrupted, his voice firm but calm, then he addressed to Heero personally. "You asked us for our help, and we gave it to you. Don't be surprised that we ask questions in return."

He made a pause, and Heero fixed his eyes on Quatre. His gaze must have evoked a slight smirk on Quatre's lips.

"You seem an intelligent man. I'm sure you realized how much we risk by being kind to you. Being kind doesn't pay, not these days."

Heero faced both men with a deathly stare.

"I'm not a Firefly. Nor I am from the Military. I'm a smuggler," he said as calmly as he could. "And as long as Relena is safe here, you _don't have_ _to_ be afraid of me. That's all."

Trowa spat out at those words.

"How come you're not dead already? With that arrogant attitude…"

But Quatre smiled at Heero with some weary sympathy. His smile was as warm as the one Relena shared.

"You are clearly not our enemy, and Relena's benefit is of the utmost importance to you. That is enough for me," he stated, then unfolded his hands and headed towards the exit. "You must be exhausted, Heero Yuy. I will show you a place where you can rest. And tomorrow, we will try to shape your and Relena's life here in Evergreen."

"Quatre," Trowa interrupted the blonde man, "and the check?"

"Please, Trowa, make it quick," Quatre sighed, walking away, "I'll wait outside."

When Quatre left, Heero locked his eyes with Trowa.

"Quatre is how he is," Trowa muttered silently, then started to check Heero's body thoroughly for any signs of bites, beginning from his neck and arms, "but I still don't trust you. Don't feel too comfortable here. I will keep an eye at you."

Heero gave him an unfriendly, though the somewhat bored look in return, but stood still and silent while Trowa carried his thorough, obviously over-detailed and lengthy check.

.

* * *

TBC

Hello, my Dear Readers!

I'm glad that you have survived up until this moment of the story. Heero and Relena have gone through a lot, will they finally be able to rest? You may be surprised that Heero sometimes behaves like a savage - he doesn't speak, doesn't shake hands, and responds meanly. Well, I think it's probably because of his highly defensive attitude. Quatre is kind-hearted, as always, while Trowa is much more distrustful. I hope I didn't make the characters much OOC.

In the next chapter, you'll find out more about Evergreen. It was inspired by the town in Wyoming where Ellie and Joel from 'The Last of Us' PS4 game (Sony, Naughty Dog, etc.) landed at some point in their journey.

See you in the next chapter!


	29. Chapter 29 - The Board of the Ark

**Chapter 29 - The Board of the Ark**

_Relena POV_

_._

_Next morning_

_._

Relena couldn't remember when was the last time she had slept this long and comfortably.

She rolled onto her back and rubbed her eyes, lazily watching her closest surroundings. She wasn't laying on the floor nor on any old, smelly furniture, but in a standard bed, with a mattress and new bedding. Her body was washed and clean, her hair was thoroughly combed and tied into a thick braid. She was wearing loose and clean clothes. She felt no hunger or thirst. Relena turned her head, looking around the large room, built of wood, with two additional beds. The room was cozy, now filled with warm, sunny light and the smell of summer wind that was carrying in the delicate scent of the forest and fields surrounding Evergreen.

Even so, something was missing...

"Oh, you're awake!" she suddenly heard a cheerful voice. "Mornin', Relena!"

The person who greeted her, Catherine, was standing by the opened window in the oversized T-shirt, combing her shoulder-length, brown hair. Relena slowly sat upright on the bed, brushing unruly strands of her hair behind her ear.

"Good morning," she sighed.

"How are you feeling, love? Look what a beautiful day we have today."

Relena threw a thin blanket away and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. The moment she rested the weight of her body on legs, she almost lost balance; her body was struck by the accumulated pain of wandering for many weeks. Her muscles were sore, the skin on the soles of her feet stung uncomfortably on every contact with the floor, and her knee joints hurt as if thin blades were stuck between the bones. Relena gasped lightly, but slowly got on her feet and walked barefoot to the window, standing next to Catherine and leaned on the windowsill to gaze outside.

It was already late morning, and it was so noisy outside that Relena was surprised that she hadn't woken up even earlier despite that noise. It seemed that one of the busiest streets of the settlement was situated just outside their window.

The laneway was full of people: men, women, children. Old and young. Evergreen inhabitant's life was vibrant; there were heard raised voices, roars of various types of tools, squeaking of children running in the yard, even neighing of horses. Residents seemed busy with their own affairs and responsibilities, walking briskly in all directions. However, they spared no kindness to each other; they stopped here and there to exchange a word with a friend or to rub on the hair children running freely between them. The air was filled with a mixture of the sandy road's dust, the moisture of horse sweat, and the smell of smoke from the chimneys.

There was a noticeable harmony in this tumult.

"In fact," Relena sighed, "it's beautiful here. And so… different than in the zone."

"That was the same thing I had thought when I had come here for the first time," Catherine said. "The settlement was much smaller then."

"How did you get here?" Relena asked.

"Just like you, running away from the infected," Catherine replied, sighing a bit with a sentiment. "Trowa had saved me and brought me here."

Relena leaned her elbows on the windowsill and drew the morning air into her lungs. She relished the scents she hadn't felt for so long and which she always associated with bustling villages. "So, this is your home now?"

"It is. My home and my big family," Catherine hung her voice for a moment and looked away. "Although there are various rules and restrictions, I prefer that than the wilderness behind the gate. I prefer that even to the zone. Here we live close to nature, we trust ourselves and support each other. Otherwise, we wouldn't have survived this long."

Both girls fell silent for a moment, observing the people outside, as Relena mulled Catherine's words. Indeed, it was a completely different place than the zone. There were no ubiquitous soldiers on the streets, only individual men with guns could be seen at the top of the wall, looking somewhere far, far beyond the village. People seemed laid back, absorbed in small matters of everyday life...

"So, you do know Quatre Winner?" Catherine spoke again, interrupting Relena in her thoughts. "I actually wanted to ask you yesterday, but you were too exhausted."

"I do," Relena nodded with a smile. "He's my childhood friend."

"So you're really _that _Relena Peacecraft?" Catherine grinned widely, then, noticing Relena's surprised gaze, she added, "rumors already spread in Evergreen!"

Relena felt unsure hearing the word '_that' _while she still wasn't sure what it actually meant here. She felt her cheeks involuntarily blush a bit.

"Well…" she muttered silently, untangling her braid as she decided to ask. "I noticed that it's a piece of news here. As stupid it sounds, I don't fully understand why?"

"Relax," Catherine spoke again, "we all here hope for a cure for this terrible virus to be found. Quatre has been gathering all possible information about the state of research for a long time. We are determined to help everybody working on the cure. Your family, your peaceful ideals, and your father's work on the vaccine are a unique symbol for us."

Relena raised her eyebrows, surprised by these words. Catherine seemed as if she really meant them, but Relena didn't think that anyone in this world still was inspired by the ideals of her family. Not after all that happened, not after the world was absorbed by the ruthless war. The awareness of this caused her eyes to burn, but she smiled at Catherine.

"I appreciate that."

"What's more…" Catherine suddenly approached Relena, almost breaking her private space and sounding very conspiratorial, "there are some who suspect you didn't come here by accident; that you're heading south to create a cure or a vaccine. Are they right? Where are you heading to? Is it true that a vaccine can be created?"

Relena swallowed nervously at the avalanche of questions, and Catherine's cautious look. She hoped that no detail of her expression revealed that a vial with one ounce of the already produced vaccine was now laying hidden somewhere deep inside Heero's backpack. She cursed in her soul, realizing that she hadn't thought in advance what story to tell in a similar situation.

"I can't… really talk about this," Relena smiled, embarrassed, trying hard to figure _anything_.

Catherine made a shocked face, then sent Relena a broad, very cheerful smile.

"I knew it," she whispered, a heartfelt smile never disappearing from her face. "Relax, I won't ask more… though I'd really want to. Maybe you'll tell me more later. You just can't imagine what a relief it is to get hope back."

Relena breathed a sigh when Catherine stepped away from her and closed the window, then draped the curtains.

"Well, let's get dressed," she announced, walking briskly around the room. Relena followed her with her gaze, slowly sitting down on her bed. "We'll eat something and then I'll show you around the village…"

"Wait, Catherine," Relena interrupted her, trying to get her attention. "I have to... I haven't seen Heero since yesterday, I desperately need to talk to him."

"Heero? You mean that handsome devil of yours? Don't worry about him, he's all right," Catherine said with a playful smirk, then she took off her nightgown, remaining in her underwear and started choosing clothes for the day. "By the way, he was here already."

"Here?" Relena raised her eyebrows. "When?"

"Earlier this morning. When we were all still asleep," Catherine explained, standing with her back to Relena and picking through her clothes. "He sneaked here, sat next to your bed, probably wanted to make sure you were all right." Catherine hung her voice for a second as if she was mulling over something. "To tell you the truth, I have no idea how long he had been here. Silvia suddenly woke up, and she chased him out of the room. You know those rules..."

Relena felt an unexplained warmth in her heart at the realization that Heero was actually here. She sat on the edge of her bed, combing her hair with her fingers. So Heero kept his promise.

"I see," she whispered. "Shame that I didn't get to speak to him."

"You were sleeping like a log, babe. Oh, these will suit you," she heard Catherine's voice, then the girl threw her a pair of clean pants and a loose shirt onto her bed. "Those rags of yours were useless, I threw them away. We'll sew your new clothes."

Relena took new clothes in her hands and smiled. They were ordinary and plain, but their sight evoked a warm feeling of everyday normality in her heart.

"You are wonderful, Catherine. Thank you."

"Oh, shut up," Catherine sighed with a smile, pulling on her pants and zipping up.

Suddenly the door to the room opened, and a frail blonde girl with green eyes stood in the doorway. She was dressed in earth-soaked jeans and a dark shirt with a delicate checkered pattern, and she still had garden gloves on her hands. She looked slightly breathless, gazed around the room, then focused her eyes on Relena.

Relena unwittingly straightened herself under the power of the gaze of that girl. There was no warmth in her eyes to which Relena already got used while being in Catherine's presence.

"You woke up," the girl noted dryly.

Realizing the girl was addressing precisely to her, Relena instantly got up from the bed, wanting to say hello, but Catherine had beat her up to it.

"Hello, Silvia. Relena, I think you fell asleep yesterday before Silvia returned to the room, so let me introduce you. This is Silvia Noventa. Silvia, this is..."

"Yes, I know, Relena _Peacecraft_," the girl named Silvia recited, then approached Relena. Relena raised her chin, sending a gentle smile, but Silvia's intentions still weren't clear to her. Silvia eyed Relena from head to toe quite critically. "I'm very pleased. My father, General Noventa, was an ally of your family's views before the outbreak. As one of the very few military men."

Saying this, Silvia frowned at Relena confrontationally. Relena desperately searched her memory, but she didn't recall nor the name nor the man. It didn't seem strange to her. Her parents knew a lot of people, many people also visited their home, but she wasn't connected with a friendship bond with their children. Quatre was the exception. She bowed her head gently.

"I'm sorry. I was six at the time. I don't remember..."

"Too bad," Silvia summed up, her voice full of remorse, then sent Relena a crooked, malevolent smile. "I was five at the time, and yet, I do remember _your_ father."

Relena looked back at Silvia, into her green eyes. They were filled with hostility as if this girl truly challenged her to a duel to prove which one has a better memory, and just won the first round. And Silvia seemed apparently proud of it. Relena bowed her head slightly, resisting the hard look...

"All right, girls, gimme a break," Catherine suddenly laughed out merrily and entered between them, trying to release the growing tension. "You'll kiss and hug after breakfast."

"I've already eaten," Silvia wrinkled her nose, then threw away Catherine's hand and turned her steps to leave. At the last moment, however, she turned around and faced Relena again. "Well, what should I say: welcome to Evergreen, Relena. I hope Catherine will introduce you in detail to the _rules_ here."

Then she left, slamming the door behind her.

When Relena looked at Catherine with surprised eyes, Catherine shrugged in response.

"Don't you worry about her, she has her moods," Catherine sighed, making a funny face. "She apparently got pissed off by your boyfriend's raid at night in our room, but she'll get over it."

"I see…"

Another mention of Heero made her feel a great desire to see him again, to make sure he was all right. Relena sighed loudly and started putting on her underwear and pants. Dressing up, she thought that perhaps it was too naive of her to believe that only because of the fact that she was friends with Quatre, she would be accepted by _everyone_ here.

Once dressed, Relena walked out of the room. Catherine was waiting for her outside the door of their shared apartment. When she closed the door behind them, the girls walked down the short corridor that led outside their wooden building. Relena followed Catherine through the wooden doors out, and the moment they went outside, she shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand and blinked, looking around.

"We eat in that building," Catherine pointed to a long barrack by the wall, then held Relena by her hand, and they walked briskly through the street. Relena let her friend led her, while she was looking sideways, admiring the world around her.

From this perspective, Evergreen seemed even bigger than it seemed to her the day before when she stood at its towering gates. Evergreen was full of life, everyone was busy: some men chopped wood, others worked with various machines, others shoed horses, others worked in the gardens... The fortress-like settlement consisted of a dozen or so wooden, long barracks, each apparently had different uses. Life was buzzing between those barracks - in the courtyards that were full of families, artisan farms, small industrial plants, pastures for farm animals.

Walking behind Catherine, Relena quickly noticed that there was one thing that indeed distinguished this place from any other she had seen so far in her life after the outbreak: children. Relena couldn't remember when she had last seen such a freewheeling view as a loudly laughing child. In the Philadelphia zone, the few children that were born each year were taken away from their parents as soon as they turned six and forced to attend a military boarding school. Here, children were running, chasing each other between the buildings of the settlement and between their busy parents.

"It's like paradise here," Relena sighed, whipping her head around, trying to look at all the details. "I can't believe such a place truly exists!"

"You couldn't have hit better," Catherine admitted.

Suddenly, one of the little boys ran closer to Relena and stretched his small arm up to her. Relena stopped abruptly, smiled at him, then knelt down and reached out to shake his hand, but before she did it, the boy dodged her and ran around Relena, hiding behind her back. The boy laughed the happiest laugh Relena had ever heard in her life, so light-hearted and joyful, then ran further away from, to the other boys.

"My God," Relena whispered, slightly covering her mouth with her hand with admiration. "As if there was never any outbreak..."

Catherine smiled at her, then grasped Relena's hand again.

"Come on, or we'll never reach the canteen!"

Relena allowed Catherine to pull her into the nearby building. Upon entering, she sensed a pleasant smell of cooked food, and when they walked inside, the air filled with a tasty smell almost knocked Relena off her feet.

"I need to introduce you to the rules here, so I should get started. In Evergreen, everyone does a task for the community," Catherine suddenly started explaining, taking the small plates from the nearby desk. Relena uncertainly followed Catherine, who approached the short counter, followed by stone kilns lined with wood. Several people were busy around the kitchen, apparently preparing the last portions of breakfast. Relena couldn't remember when she had last seen so much food…

"As a rule, you do what you're most capable of, for example, cooking, sewing, blacksmithing, gardening... It is possible to change the occupation if you get bored. You should think about what you feel most skilled in," Catherine continued, imposing two full breakfast portions on their plates: two slices of delicious-looking bread, scrambled eggs, and pieces of green pepper. "Here," Catherine said, passing one of the plates to Relena.

Relena grabbed it and looked around. The hall with tables was half-filled, most likely with people getting up late, who were eating without any rush.

Among that small group of people, Relena still couldn't see the only person who she truly wanted to see.

"Let's sit here," Catherine said, choosing one of the long tables just by the open window.

Relena followed Catherine but stopped abruptly at a metal chair, still looking around closely. She nervously squeezed her fingers around the plate she was holding, trying to see among the other persons inside the makeshift canteen the familiar face. Futilely. She felt a lump of nervousness building up in her throat that almost made her breathless.

"What is it?" Catherine asked, surprised by Relena's sudden stop. "You want to sit somewhere else?"

Relena straightened up, placing her plate with breakfast on the table.

"Catherine, I really need to see Heero," she said firmly. "I can't stand not knowing what's going on with him."

"…I get it, but you really don't need to worry," Catherine said comfortingly, motioning to Relena to sit down. "He's probably still resting. You both came here on the verge of exhaustion..."

"It doesn't matter," Relena cut her off shortly. She knew she might be misunderstood; it wasn't that she had any bad premonitions - at least not yet. But she just had to make sure he was all right. "I'm going to get him. I _need_ to talk to him."

"Wait a minute-" Catherine managed to mumble, but Relena had already turned on her heel towards the exit from the building and walked briskly out. "Relena, wait!"

But Relena just quickened her pace, wanting to leave the building as fast as possible. She felt anxiety in her heart. The longer she didn't know what was happening with him, the more anxious she felt. Her legs carried her alone, and in a few seconds, she was already outside the door to the canteen.

Then, suddenly, she got abruptly stopped by a hand that clamped on her forearm. Staggering, she looked up, feeling both surprise and relief as a pair of familiar Prussian-blue eyes stared back at her.

"Oh, Heero!" Relena gasped.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked, looking down at her with scolding eyes. Like a parent catching a child on prohibited pranks. "You need to eat to regain strength."

Relena looked around before daring to speak. Heero caught her just outside the canteen door; the spot he was standing made her realize that maybe he was... hiding.

"I should ask: what were _you_ doing here?" Relena asked, clasping his hand in hers. She studied his face; he seemed calm and controlled, as always. He looked well-rested; the dark circles under his eyes that she had seen yesterday disappeared. The wound on his cheek, which he had got while fighting the infected, was now correctly dressed. His hair was still disheveled, and he was wearing a new pair of gray trousers and a white T-shirt. "I wanted to look for you!"

Heero's eyes betrayed a flash of mild impatience.

"I told you I would be around," he said with a low voice, then grasped Relena firmly by a hand, and started escorting her back into the building, in the direction of Catherine's table.

Realizing that she had just been caught on the apparent disbelief in him and his words, Relena felt her cheeks burn with shame.

"I mean… I was worried about you…" Relena whispered, bowing her head. "That's because you're sneaking so much. If you'd come to me in the morning or to breakfast like a normal man..."

"I had eaten when you were still asleep," Heero replied, giving her only a brief look over his shoulder.

Although Relena was used to his curt temper, it was hard to bear it this time. Now, instead of embarrassment, Relena started to feel irritated by his attitude. And partly by her own earlier concern about him.

She pulled her hand from his grip, stopping abruptly. Heero stopped too, then turned and looked at her curiously. People of Evergreen passed them by, surprised by the bizarre behavior of two new arrivals: the famous Relena Peacecraft and the guy whom almost no one knew yet, apparently making a fuss around themselves. Completely unexcited about peoples' reactions, Relena shot a confrontative look at Heero's indifferent, steely eyes.

"This is what you meant by 'being around'? How long were you planning to hide from me like that? Did it entertain you?"

But Heero's face betrayed no emotion. What it did reveal, though, was a sudden flash in his eyes, as if he was misunderstood.

"No."

His voice was calm and low, as always. And yet, his behavior upset Relena like anything ever did. _What was the purpose of this hiding? _she thought.

"Oh, well, that's a relief," Relena spat mockingly and bitterly, then passed him by, but he caught her wrist again.

"Relena-"

She staggered at her feet under the force of his grasp, then straightened herself up to meet his confident, fierce eyes. The look he gave her, the way he scanned her whole form, proved that he noticed it. Then Heero's eyes twitched as if he was to cast his gaze down and apologize. Relena froze, silently counting on it, though at the same time, she was quietly scolding herself in her soul for worrying about him at all. However, after a split second, Heero narrowed his eyes on her again.

"What's with you?" he hissed, simultaneously scanning the surroundings behind her back.

"Nothing," Relena whispered, now feeling fury rising in her chest and… belly rumbling. She cast her eyes downcast at their joined hands. "Let me go," she ordered silently.

He let. Relena jerked her hand and quickly returned to the table, where Catherine was still waiting for her.

"What the heck just happened?" Catherine asked, startled, looking over Relena's shoulder.

"Nothing," Relena replied. She didn't turn to see if Heero had followed her, nor did she look up when she heard the sound of a metal chair sliding across the floor right beside her; a second later, Heero sat down next to her at the table.

"Mornin'," he greeted Catherine, as indifferently as possible.

"Hello," Catherine replied, then reached out her hand across the table to Heero. "Nice to meet you, I'm Catherine. I don't think we were introduced to each other officially."

Heero peered at her from behind his unruled bangs. After a moment of hesitation, he reached and squeezed her hand over the table.

"Heero."

"Was it you who waltzed into our room?" Catherine asked with a grin, still eyeing Heero, but he didn't seem to react at all. Relena narrowed her brow as she felt anger at the thought of his nighttime escapade; _why didn't he even wake her up?_

Meanwhile, without getting any answer from Heero, Catherine raised her eyebrows and leaned back in her chair.

"Chatterbox, aren't you…?"

"That figures…" Relena muttered angrily, biting the piece of her food; when she did, she realized that this was the first time in years when she was eating real bread. She narrowed her eyes in delight, letting out a short gasp, enjoying the taste. It tasted so good, almost like the one she had eaten at home. At least, she thought so... because her memories were already blurring.

"Enjoy your meal," they all suddenly heard the merry greeting.

Quatre Raberba Winner approached the table, followed by still cautious Trowa. They both looked busy; their clothes were already dusty with sand from the streets of Evergreen. "Good morning, everybody."

"Hi," Catherine and Relena greeted them happily, while Heero was still sitting with a stony face.

"I hope you all slept well," Quatre said, choosing the chair on the right from Catherine and sitting down, while Trowa sat down to the left of Catherine, right across from Heero. "And how is your breakfast?"

"Delicious!" Relena almost squealed, "I don't remember the last time I ate bread."

Quatre smiled proudly.

"Thank you! We have our own wheat field right behind the wall, and we recently developed a simple baking method. This bread is the outcome."

"That's brilliant," Relena beamed, then remembered something she wanted to ask about. "But how did you manage to get the electricity? It rankles me all the time... We were able to reach Evergreen only thanks to the high voltage lines."

"Well, this area is a former hydroelectric power plant," Quatre explained, leaning back in his chair, shooting a gaze outside the window. "Despite the passage of years, it wasn't destroyed, and a few months ago, we were able to restart the turbine. But we don't run it every day, just once or twice a week to charge the batteries. Because of this, electricity isn't here as often as in the zone."

"So you launched them yesterday," Relena smiled, "that's why we found your settlement. We followed the sound from the cables."

"If so, you were terribly lucky," Trowa interrupted. "Because just yesterday, we worked with the engines and cables to ensure that electricity would no longer spread throughout the rest of the city. As a target, we want all the circuits to begin and end behind the walls - to save energy. But that's a lot of work yet to do."

"And the wall?" Relena asked, with her mouth full of bread. She felt excitement in being able to learn more about this fascinating place. "Did you have to build it from scratch?"

"Not exactly," Quatre said, "even before the outbreak, it was a fenced area, all we had to do was strengthen a wall."

"Wonderful," Relena beamed, then took another bite of her bread. She peered merrily at Catherine, but her eyes were downcast, with an apparently sad, slightly resigned expression. The change was sudden, and Catherine seemed lost in some dark thoughts. It was actually the first time Relena saw her concerned, but she didn't feel in a position to ask what happened yet. She glanced sideways. Trowa and Heero continued looking at each other with undisguised resentment, even hostility. Relena cleared her throat, thinking of a way to release tension.

"So, Quatre... yesterday you said that you'll tell about how you imagine mine and Heero's stay here…"

That second Quatre and Trowa exchanged glances, then Quatre furrowed his brows as he shifted his gaze at Relena.

"Relena, you are free to do whatever you like. For now, until you'll familiarize with the community, you can help Catherine," Quatre proposed, putting his hand on Catherine's shoulder. Relena noticed that her usually merry friend didn't even look up at this gesture. "You can help with sewing clothes, packing ammunition, cooking... whatever you want."

"But as far as _you_ are concerned," Trowa continued in a low voice, eyeing Heero, "we want you to help us hunt the infected."

The ominous, grave silence fell between all of them; it seemed as if these words aroused interest also among the uninvolved people sitting around in the canteen. Relena glanced at Trowa, then at Quatre, noticing the abashment painting on his features. She definitely didn't like what she was hearing. She fought the urge to look at Heero and involuntarily clenched her hands, placing them on the table on both sides of her plate.

"Hunt?" Relena asked with a shaky voice. "What do you mean by that?"

Eventually, Quatre looked up at Relena with his kind, green eyes and sighed sadly before speaking.

"It's not a mystery that infected are our greatest threat. They regularly appear around, sometimes come too close to the gate - like yesterday when they ran here lured by you. To fight them, once in a while, we collect a group of… bravest that goes beyond the gates. To somehow clear the area around Evergreen and neighboring villages. Although it never goes without victims..." Quatre hung his voice for a moment, "it allows us to keep these beasts at bay."

"This time is nearing again," Trowa continued towards Heero. "And you could be useful for us. You and your skills."

That second, Relena turned her head to look at Heero. He was sitting perfectly still with his arms folded over his chest, his cold but confident eyes fixed on Trowa. Though she was just mad at him a moment ago, realizing what task awaited him, now Relena felt overwhelmed by fear. She remembered how many infected attacked them yesterday and how close it was for them both to die. She remembered a deathly threat that awaited just outside the settlement, about which was easy to forget while being in safety.

"Is it... necessary for him to go?" she asked, gazing into Quatre's eyes, clenching her fists involuntarily on the table again. She felt a familiar wave of heat building up in her chest as if she were an animal in a blind corner. Fear was almost palpable. "We've just reached here…"

"I'm sorry, Relena," Quatre stated firmly, interrupting her, "I must admit that this became the condition to agree on your stay here."

Before Relena could say anything more, she got interrupted…

"Fine."

Startled, Relena whipped her head at Heero. He didn't look back at her; instead, he tilted his head a bit up, his bright eyes half-shrouded by his chocolate-brown bangs.

"I'll go," Heero said again, his voice firm and emotionless.

His words caused a flash of relief in Quatre's eyes.

Witnessing the way he agreed, without a moment of hesitation and without revealing even a shadow of emotion, Relena felt her heart squeeze to a point it almost stopped beating. She felt omitted and outplayed as if a decision had been made above her head. Resentment about Heero and anger from a moment ago was suddenly replaced by fear and anxiety for his life. She realized that he just decided so simply to go into the wilderness, expose himself to danger while she would be securely locked up here. He may even die during this "hunt," and she would have to deal with life without him, behind a safe gate…

_Helping Catherine, sewing clothes, packing ammunition, cooking_... doing "whatever she wanted."

Her heart was beating so hard that her ears were ringing. It just… wasn't fair. She couldn't agree with this.

"If Heero has to go, then I'm going too."

Everyone looked up at her, their faces painted with shock at her words.

Everyone, except Heero.

"Relena, are you out of your mind?" Catherine gasped.

"Relena, forgive me," Quatre said, "but this is not a trip. This is an expedition, on which these chosen ones set off armed and have a perilous but important task to do…"

"It's deathly dangerous," Trowa added, "and nobody wants to risk your life, Relena Peacecraft."

At those particular words, Relena felt the blood boil in her veins. With impetus, she pushed her chair back away and stood up from the table.

"You all have no idea what I have been through so far. That I am here, and I still live… I owe it only to Heero," Relena muttered in a low voice, measuring them with angry eyes. "I've made my mind. If you don't start treating Heero equally to me, we'll leave immediately."

Then she left the table and got out of the building, leaving everyone behind.

x x x

_Heero POV_

_._

With his arms still crossed on his chest, Heero calmly followed Relena's drifting silhouette with a sideways glance, allowing her to walk out and away from the building. Nevertheless, he made sure to remember which direction she had turned right after leaving the canteen.

He had to deal with this.

"Well… fuck," Trowa sighed under his breath, while Quatre raked a nervous hand through his blonde hair. Catherine seemed shocked and looked nervously at the others, not sure what she should do and whether she should run after Relena. Shooting a quick glance at them all, Heero allowed himself to smirk involuntarily at the thought that if Relena knew how much this behavior had made it easier for him to make this decision, she would never have left this room.

His reaction could not escape the attention of others.

"What about you?" Quatre asked, "what's so funny?"

Heero lifted his eyes back on them, eyeing them provocatively. If _that_ was what they wanted in return, he would give it to them.

"The deal is on," he declared, his voice calm and controlled, then he unwrapped his arms and placed both hands on the table, clenching them in fists. "I'll go with you. I have only one condition."

"I'm afraid it's not you who set the conditions here," Trowa muttered, and Heero shifted his look at Quatre, who narrowed his eyes back at him in interest.

"Tell me," Quatre said.

Heero locked eyes with Quatre, trying to see again in this man the reason why he had actually decided to trust him with Relena's life…

"She'll stay here. As long as she'll want," Heero said slowly, silently. Although a quickening of his pulse made him think that it was more challenging to say it out loud than to let it happen. "Kept safe behind the gates."

His words hung in a tense and restless silence, which seemed unbearable with every passing second. Quatre didn't even blink when he placed both his hands on the table in a solemn gesture. His eyes were full of respect and cordial expression as if he understood the seriousness of what Heero actually asked him.

"You have my word."

Heero tilted his head slightly. That's it - he got what he wanted. He wanted to make sure. He wanted an _excuse_… _no_… a _promise_ that will calm his nerves, soothe his conscience that he is actually going to _abandon_ her. If so, he caught himself on waiting for the relief that didn't come… Keeping his nerves at bay and calm surface, Heero nodded at Quatre's words, though a mute scream of protest stuck in his throat.

Then Catherine slowly got up from the chair. "I'll go get her..." she whispered under her breath, but Quatre grabbed her by the elbow, addressing to Heero again.

"I made you a promise. But it's up to you to convince her to stay here. As much as I know her… if she insists, you nor I won't be able to keep her here."

Heero understood what the blonde man had in mind, then rose from the table without any word and headed towards the exit of the building.

"We leave the day after tomorrow," Trowa said after him.

.

* * *

TBC

Hello, My Dear Readers!

I'm still alive! The coronavirus is currently raging in my country, Poland. I have 2 weeks' leave from work (fortunately not a quarantine), and I stay at home, catching up with various things, also in writing. I also laze a lot, unfortunately. That's why you had to wait so long for this chapter.

What's next? What does this trip mean for Heero and Relena? You will find out in the following chapters. Stay tuned, and please, leave a review if you liked the chapter and the story so far!

Keep safe, ~enelle.


	30. Chapter 30 - The Perfect World x

**Chapter 30 - The Perfect World**

_Relena POV_

_._

Relena rapidly left the canteen building and headed forward. She actually had no idea where she was going, but that didn't bother her. She wanted to be alone for a moment; she couldn't control her anger anymore.

She turned into an alley full of workshops that were crafting various items, from ammunition and clothes to horseshoes. The lane was full of a cheerful, noisy buzz. Relena turned around to check if anybody was following her, then joined hands behind her back and continued walking, looking curiously all around her. Evergreen residents watched her even as much curiously, some whispered among themselves, pointing their fingers in her direction; it embarrassed her. Every time somebody pointed at her, she turned around, sending a shy smile and kept walking, speeding up her pace.

Eventually, at the end of the alley, she reached a place that looked like the other end of the settlement; there, just below the Evergreen wall, a few paddocks with horses were located. Relena passed the last buildings and entered a narrow, gritty path between the paddocks. The sun was already high in the sky, and horses were hiding in a shadow under the wall. Relena looked back once again - still, no one was following her. She walked over to the fence that was separating the paddocks and rested her hands on its top.

At that precise moment, when she stopped, she felt breathless… her knees were burning of stabbing pain, so were her feet. It shocked her. As if crossing those several hundred meters strained her body to its limits…

Feeling dizzy and catching her breath, she slumped against the fence, fixing her gaze on the horses grazing lazily on the paddock. They were beautiful; their well-groomed combed manes seemed to glisten in the sun. Behind the wall, the wind was buzzing in the branches of trees surrounding Evergreen. Somewhere from behind her came the sound of a cheerfully laughing child. It was so peaceful. It was a safe world, a world full of people trying so hard to live like before the outbreak. She had no idea that such a universe could still exist.

And yet it wasn't a perfect world.

Calming her breathing, Relena closed her eyes and inhaled deeply the smell of summer. When she exhaled, her breath trembled in her throat; she was stressed-out, on the verge of panic. Stressed-out of losing control over her life, her choices, her emotions… Why had she suddenly lost this sense of safeness, stabilization, which, paradoxically, had been accompanying her behind the gate, in places much more dangerous? What had changed?

Maybe she wasn't right? She had been acting like a spoiled kid: unable to appreciate the strict rules of this safe haven, and to recognize that a wall doesn't entirely solve the problem with infected… And that there is probably no need to worry about Heero.

And yet... she felt deep opposition. She was treated differently because she was _that_ Relena Peacecraft. She had a privilege of staying here, behind the safe wall - in return, Heero had to go on a dangerous hunt, from which he could never return. And she was powerless about it.

Suddenly she heard footsteps on the graze behind her; she looked over her shoulder.

"How did you find me?" she gasped, a little bit startled. She wanted _so much _to sound angry. "I didn't notice you walking after me."

Heero was ambling toward her, his hands deeply pressed inside the pockets of light jeans, the penetrating gaze of his blue orbits fixed on her from behind his brown bangs, gently blown on the light breeze. There was neither anger nor reprimand in those eyes. When he walked closer, he stopped, resting his forearms on the fence, but kept being silent, turning his gaze away.

Relena squeezed her hands nervously, her eyes downcast.

"Everyone's mad at me, huh?" she began quietly.

"No, they were rather surprised," Heero replied blankly.

"Oh," Relena sighed, not slipping by the past tense in his words, realizing what they meant. She combed her hair back, but the wind kept tangling them again. She kept her gaze down, still unable to look at him. "This hunt… how long will it take?"

"Not less than two weeks."

Relena nodded.

"And.. when do they plan to go?"

"The day after tomorrow."

Relena took a deep breath, then bit her lip nervously. She knew this tone of his voice all too well.

"Let me guess. You've already told them that you're going, haven't you?"

When Heero didn't say anything in reply, that just made Relena's blood boil. Sticking her fingers into the sun-heated wood of the paddock's fence, she managed to gather strength to hide the trembling of her voice. Her heart was pounding aggressively; she felt furious, mad at him. Betrayed.

"Do you even care about what I think about it, or you're just gonna do what you want?" she muttered, abruptly clenching her fingers. Her nails, carving the dry wood, left thin, light brown streaks on its surface. "Tell me, Heero. Save me the effort."

Heero kept his gaze fixed somewhere ahead of him, then kicked his heels and leaned forward, leaning on the wooden fence with the weight of his body.

"Relena," he addressed her solemnly after a moment, staring at the herd of horses. "I hate to admit it, but we owe them a favor. If it weren't for them, the infected would have killed us just outside this gate. The sooner we pay them off, the better for us."

Relena bit her lip. She couldn't deny him, but it didn't soothe her fury and defiance. She couldn't just let the blind destiny throw them - throw Heero - in such great danger. This, in turn, meant that she had only one desire.

"Let's leave this place. Right now."

Saying those words, she didn't turn her head to look at Heero but heard the wood creak under the pressure of his strong hands as he clenched his fists on the wooden bar. She felt an involuntary, disturbing tingling on the back of her neck at this sound.

"If that's the price for their hospitality, then I don't want to stay here anymore. I don't agree-"

"You'll stay here," Heero interrupted her firmly, his voice cold as a polar wind.

Relena whipped around towards Heero, narrowing her eyes. He didn't look back at her, his gaze fixed somewhere ahead of him, but the muscles in his arms were so strained that they gently pulsed under his skin, lifting his shoulders up.

"You can't decide for me… All you want to do is to take that risk all by yourself! How can you expect me to agree on that?" she muttered angrily, narrowing her eyes and feeling her heart beating so hard as if it was soon about to stop. "And if I won't, what will you do? Will you take out your gun and aim it at me? Like _then_?"

Those words had to spark some flame inside him, as they made Heero turn his head to her. His eyes blazed with ominous blue fire from behind his bangs. Then he let go of the fence and made a step in her direction.

Relena swallowed but kept her composure, looking up at him.

"You can't lock me here," she declared, trying hard to hide the trembling in her voice, while Heero made another step closer. "I won't stay here… I won't let them send you into the wild, to those _beasts_ that can tear you to pieces, and…"

Her voice suddenly broke when she realized, in the back of her conscience, how much she was afraid of him; of his glance. The strength of this look turned her numb. Heero's eyes darkened, and Relena felt that same feeling when they were in that dark, cramped underground corridor again... only once had she been so scared of him…

Relena made a step back, when Heero shot his hand at her at the speed of light, tightened his grip around her right wrist, and violently pulled. The movement was abrupt, sudden, and unexpected. Relena felt the ground slipping away from under her feet and flew towards him, still caught in his violent grip, but Heero simultaneously pushed her away, turning her around the axis.

The panicked breath left her lungs, and she shut her eyes closed as she stopped with her back on his hard chest, her knees buckled against her.

"_Tear to pieces_… you said?"

Her form and weight were propped almost entirely against his firm chest, her both arms immobilized, her spine bent backward unnaturally. Heero held her vertically only by using the strength of his firm grip. Relena felt hotness flowing through her brain and veins, futilely tried to stand confidently on both legs, but Heero didn't loosen his grasp.

"Heero…" she gasped. Although he didn't use a lot of strength against her, she couldn't resist him. "What…"

"Can't you see? I could do _anything_ to you right now," she heard Heero's silent voice just next to her ear. Keeping her standing, he slid his other hand below her arm, raking his fingers up, over her bust and collarbone, to her neck. "Your body _radiates_ with exhaustion. It's in your eyes, in your movements, in a way you're breathing. You're weak now as you have ever been, Relena. I could break your neck, and you wouldn't have any strength to fight me."

Feeling Heero's fingers on both sides of her neck and on her windpipe and hearing his voice, Relena subconsciously felt hot. Her instincts _shouted_ at her to run away, lungs pumped air at a superhuman rate, and her heart was beating frantically. But although her body trembled with fear over his violent behavior, physiologically almost crumbling with terror under his touch, her consciousness stayed calm and controlled, overwhelmed by his presence; maybe just slightly surprised by the magnitude of her own weakness and exhaustion.

_Am I indeed this weak…?_

Taking a deep breath, not wanting to resist him, Relena let herself fall deep into the abyss of his embrace, while the iron grip of his weakened. She tilted her head back, resting it on his strong shoulder, sucking in his scent, revealing her neck trustingly.

"Don't go," she whispered, beggingly. "Don't go without me… Please, Heero."

He was silent for another moment before he spoke.

"You're deceiving yourself and your body… and that's a deadly game. I can't let you do that."

Relena held her breath as she felt his fingers gently brushing the side of her neck, just at the spot where she had been bitten.

"My life is forever bound with yours, Heero," she whispered, narrowing her eyes as she gazed at the cloudless sky above them. "You're exhausted too… You can't leave me here, while you can die out there…"

"_My life_," Heero suddenly interrupted her with a firm, grudgeful tone. She could feel his breath on the side of her neck, "…only makes sense if it serves to protect _you_. And just yesterday, you almost died on my hands. I was… almost too late to save you."

She felt an almost imperceptible shiver pass through her body as if she fell into the icy water. Heero had to notice this, as he let go of her wrist, and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. As he held her close to him in a tight embrace, Relena let her body melt into him.

"That's not right…" she muttered with grief, lifting her hand and caressing his arm. She blinked her eyes that almost immediately filled with tears, blurring the view of the sun-scorched paddocks surrounding them.

Heero planted a gentle kiss to the back of her neck before he spoke.

"Listen to me. No matter if I come back or not, you'll be able to stay here… please do so. You're needed, Relena. You need to survive."

He was whispering those silent words right next to her ear, nuzzling his face into her hair. Something in a way he spoke made her heart stop. Relena grasped his arm and gently pried his arms off her. Heero let her, and Relena slowly stepped out of his embrace, turned around, looking up at him.

"And what… about Houston?" Relena asked, her voice shaky.

Heero gave her a stern look in return. His beautiful eyes were obscured by some inexplicable, distant fog that quickly disappeared, leaving him with his usual fierce and undoubtful stare.

"I'm sorry," he said.

It almost took her breath away. She felt her eyes burn, a bump clenched in her throat, and prevented her from taking a breath. She could feel conflicting emotions tugging at her. She couldn't hold back her tears any longer, and they dripped down her cheeks.

Standing inches away, Heero's eyes suddenly turned again so distant as if he was already beyond the confines of this world. This look scared her. Heero raised a hand and brushed the unruly strand of hair from her face. His warm fingers feathered her cheekbone as gently as the wings of a butterfly.

"Relena…" he whispered, brushing his thumb over the line of her jaw. The sunlight brushed his dark hair, buckled on the lines of his handsome features, reflected from the blue of his profound gaze. Relena had the same impression for the second time; something in this look was unearthly and distant as if he no longer belonged to the world of mortals.

As if he was trying to say goodbye.

Relena felt her mouth go dry, and her eyes sting. She looked away from those intense blue eyes and gazed at the horses in the distance, feeling his intense gaze still fixed on her.

_It means that I may not be able to fulfill my promise too_.

"I see…" she shuddered, surrendering. "So be it…"

Then, unable to keep her composure longer, she passed him by and ran towards the building of the settlement. She didn't expect any answer from him. She didn't say anything… but she was screaming from the inside, as she passed him by, begging him to stop her. Hoping that he would draw her to him and say that he would not leave her.

He didn't do it.

x

The more Relena got to know Evergreen over the next days, the more she was falling in love with this place. To any other place on Earth, its own name would match so perfectly. A place of eternal greenness, which symbolized hope. People living here seemed different - as if they had found the meaning of life. They struggled with many problems, but they had each other's support. Everyone cared about the good of the others.

Catherine introduced Relena to many, many people, including the Evergreen's medic - a tall, long-haired, handsome woman named Sally Po. Relena and Sally immediately felt the mint to each other, and Relena decided that during her stay in Evergreen, she would love to help Sally in her work.

"Thanks, I can really use some help," Sally sighed, tying a bandage on the injured shoulder of another patient. "I have the impression that minor misfortunes are happening here more often than on the outside. I have my hands full all day."

Relena truly felt that this was what she wanted to do: help others cure their wounds. She saw a picture of wounded Heero in the eyes of every sick or injured person; as he was lying injured in a garage in the suburbs of Atlanta. She still remembered that feeling of terror and helplessness because she didn't really know how to help him. She wanted to never have to feel this way again.

Meanwhile, the day, night and day had passed fast. Too fast.

During that time, Relena managed to see Heero only a few times, but they didn't speak to each other once.

He was preparing for the hunt with the other men. By the evening the day before their departure, everything was ready: weapons were allocated, backpacks were packed, and the continuous sound of horseshoeing was coming from the stables. It was easy to spot tension in the air, and anxiety and fear in the eyes of Evergreen residents, especially women who looked toward their loved ones. But men seemed to have built an invisible wall around them, separating themselves from that fear. Immunizing themselves.

Heero hid behind the same, invisible wall, too, seeming even more withdrawn than usual. Nevertheless, when Relena stumbled on him as if by chance, she always caught his gaze fixed solely on her. As if he had been watching her for a long time - she subconsciously felt his penetrating gaze all day. But, at the same time, she couldn't chase away the feeling that his look seemed so distant.

_As if he already knew that he wouldn't survive_.

When the night before the hunt fell, Relena retired with Catherine and Silvia to their room to rest. Silvia still frowned unfriendly at Relena but fell reasonably quickly asleep. Meanwhile, Catherine and Relena joined their beds at the tops and talked.

"Catherine," Relena whispered, "what was the previous hunt like?"

Catherine shifted her head on the pillow.

"Well, the usual. The last was probably half a year ago, the boys reportedly reached the Alabama River..."

"No," Relena interrupted her, then hung her voice for a moment. Words didn't come easily to her. "I mean... how many..."

Catherine's bright eyes reflected the moonlight like mirrors. She gazed at Relena with sadness and understanding when she realized what she wanted to ask.

"You're worried?"

Relena looked down, clenching her fingers on the material of her pillow. '_Fear'_ would be the better word to name the tension she felt in every millimeter of her body.

"Please, tell me."

Catherine was silent for a moment, then breathed out a sigh.

"Every time a part of the group doesn't come back," she said quietly, but firmly. Then she reached out and grasped Relena's hand. "But Relena. You can't allow yourself to think about this. He leaves, you stay here, but you must... you simply must!..." saying these words, Catherine squeezed Relena's hand tighter, "…believe with all your might that he will come back. You have to believe it so strongly that it will become certain for you."

Relena stared into Catherine's bright eyes and smiled slightly.

"Remember, Relena," Catherine whispered, releasing her hand and rolling on the other side. "You are the anchor that holds him by the shore and pulls him to the port. Draw him with your thoughts, and he will always come back to you."

Relena mulled her friend's words as she rolled onto her back in her comfortable bed. She could see the fragment of the night sky through their window right from her bed. This view reminded her of the nights she had spent in Charlotte with Heero. So much had changed since then. Between them, in them. Heero had become so close to her that the thought of losing him made her breathless.

Relena folded fingers of both hands together and pressed them to her chest. She felt that despite the warm night, her limbs were cold, and her heart was beating with a mourning note. As if it was fading out. For two days, she had suffered from a lack of conversation with him, feeling angry with him, keeping him at bay… to what he didn't oppose, getting out of her way, and only watching her in silence... Tomorrow he was about to leave...

She felt choking of her isolation from him. She couldn't stand this situation any longer… She craved his closeness like air. Right now.

Without thinking any longer, Relena abruptly rose from the pillow and quickly froze when the mattress creaked under her. She looked around; fortunately, Catherine and Silvia didn't move at the sound. Relena slowly slipped off the bed. Without wearing her shoes, she directed her steps towards the exit from their room and then from the building.

Closing the dormitory door quietly behind her, she moved to hide out of sight of the men on the night watch. She had the impression that she was walking on autopilot as if she had done it multiple times before. She ran barefoot on the cold ground until she reached the building on the other side of the road. To the men's dormitory.

She quietly opened the heavy door and slipped into the dark corridor. The wooden floor creaked softly under Relena's feet as she traversed the long hallway, with doors leading to several bedrooms. The male dormitory differed from the female in one particular thing: it was way much _louder_ here because of the resounding, uneven chorus of snoring on various intonations. This gave Relena a lot of courage and confidence in moving; if these men were sleeping despite such noise, no one should hear her footsteps.

She peered successively into the rooms, but when she finally came across the right one, the joy of finding the familiar silhouette collided with disbelief… and rage. Relena entered the room after a second, with hesitation.

From her first day in Evergreen, she had slept on a decent, soft bed, with clean sheets, in an airy and spacious cell of three. The room she had just entered was occupied by three pairs of bunk beds - all of them were occupied. Bright moonlight fell inside through a small window, but it didn't illuminate the entire room.

Relena noticed Heero in a dark corner of the room, behind a wooden table that separated him from the rest of his sleeping companions. He, as the only one in the room, wasn't sleeping on one of the beds. He was lying on his left side, facing the wall, on a thin, padded mattress, covered with a light blanket, under a shabby wall. On the floor.

Witnessing this view, Relena reexperienced the anger she felt during their first breakfast in Evergreen, when she pounced on Quatre and Trowa for not treating her and Heero equally. How could she have slept on her comfortable bed while Heero had been sleeping almost on the bare floor? Why? The questions multiplied in her head, she just couldn't calm down the resentment burning her heart. The same moment she wanted to discard the name 'Peacecraft.'

Quietly, slowly, she approached the sleeping Heero and knelt next to him, leaning slightly over him. As her eyes got used to the dim light, she saw the calm and gentle expression on his face. She smiled to herself, realizing again that the bravest man she knew looked so vulnerable during sleep. Knowing how fleeting the view is, she enjoyed it for a moment, then slipped closer to his back, slowly lying next to him on the mattress.

Sensing the movement, Heero woke up almost immediately and looked over his shoulder. The moment he noticed her, his gaze instantly sharpened.

"Relena…"

Relena sent him a warm smile, hushed him by pressing her finger to her mouth. Then she bent down to plant a soft kiss on his right shoulder and back. When she slid her hand around his torso, Heero gripped her forearm and began to pull her toward him. She looked at his sharp, Prussian-blue eyes, filled with a confident look that petrified her. Unable to resist him, slowly, drawn by his hand, she moved over his body until he laid her down on the mattress between him and the wall.

Heero kicked the blanket up and held her close to him, then drowned his hand in her golden hair and brushed them away. Relena looked up at him, feeling his body radiating with the heat at the touch. His eyes were fixed on her. She cupped his face.

"I couldn't…" she whispered, shaking her head slightly, caressing the side of his face. It blurred as tears suddenly came to his eyes. "I can't… I'm sorry…"

He moved his thumb and brushed away a tear that escaped her eyes. There was something more in those eyes of his that she couldn't name yet; some kind of relief.

"Don't cry."

His voice was silent and comforting as he caressed the side of her neck. There was so much Relena wanted to tell him. But all these words were gone. She felt bare, all she had were her feelings. They overwhelmed her, and she had to obey them.

"Hold me…" she begged in a silent whisper.

Then she closed her eyes and kissed him fiercely, not leaving him any doubt about what she wanted.

Heero returned the kiss with unambiguous force, raking his hands down her spine and then over Relena's leg that she hooked around his hips. She shuddered at the cautious, warm touch of his fingers on her cooled skin. Relena's body acted on its own accord, like a magnet of the opposite pole. She wrapped her arms behind his neck and pulled him closer, rolling on her back so that he was hovering over her.

Suddenly, an unexpected, loud attack of coughing of one of the men sleeping in the room made them break the kiss. Relena froze motionlessly, breathless, while Heero shot his head up and looked toward the bunk beds. The coughing was followed by a rustling sound as if someone were turning from side to side. Heero kept inspecting the room for any motion for long seconds; his cautious eyes were reflecting the dim moonlight, appearing almost predatory. Lying still under him, Relena eventually took a deep, but silent breath, realizing at the same time, what a crazy thing they were actually doing. They were in a place _full_ of sleeping people. Someone could have heard them… But this voice of reason, not very loud from the beginning, got drowned entirely out when Heero bent down again to her and kissed, then gently sucked on the skin of her neck, subjecting her body to a series of slow electroshocks. Relena bit her lip, refraining the loud moan of pleasure from going out through her mouth and arched her neck back, almost slipping from the mattress on the wooden floor.

Meanwhile, Heero's both hands wandered down her ribs and then quickly up, rolling her loose T-shirt up. Then he kissed his way down her chest and naked breasts, while Relena raked her hands in his thick brown hair, then slightly lifted her lower back up so that Heero could take off her pants. Although their movements were impatient and almost hectic, it was still way too slow to her... When Relena sensed Heero's breath over her belly, she tugged gently on his hair to get him back above her. Today, unlike the other nights, she didn't need any foreplay; she just needed _him_. Feverishly. Immediately.

Wholly.

She reached and pushed his pants to slide down his hips, her eyes never leaving his. Staying in his T-shirt, Heero pulled back from her, sitting on his heels, then grasped her by both thighs and abruptly dragged her body closer to him, making Relena gasp silently out of excitement over this show of dominance and manly strength.

He leaned forward again, covering them with a blanket and pushed her knees to the mattress, nestling himself between her legs. He locked eyes with her, and in one, confident move plunged inside her. They both couldn't stop the sigh that left their lungs as they became one; as if they had emerged from under the water at the last moment before drowning.

Relena realized her legs were already trembling. She placed her hands on Heero's biceps under the sleeves of his shirt, feeling his powerful muscles pulse under the surface of his hot skin. Heero froze inside her for a moment, his head rested close to her cheek, then started moving, repeating deliberately slow, but passionate thrusts inside her. It wasn't chaotic, and it allowed them to stay almost inaudible. With each move, Relena felt the tension rising in her so high that it almost became painful. Then Heero tilted up his head, his cautious eyes scanning their surrounding for any move, and Relena moved her hands under his shirt, raking them over his abdomen and chest.

They were breathing heavily and sweating, partly out of physical and psychical effort to restrain from moaning of pleasure. Relena clung with her fingers to Heero's back and lower back, trying with all her strength to increase the pace of his movements, then dug her nails into his flesh out of impatience and excitement, but it was in vain. Heero seemed to remain unperturbed by her actions, controlled as always. He bowed his head to her chest and nipped her breasts with his teeth.

She was utterly indifferent if anyone would hear them. Feeling her need and desperation reach its zenith, being kept on the verge, burning her alive, Relena wrapped her arms around his neck, nearing her mouth to his ear.

"Heero, please…" she whimpered pleadingly.

Heero stopped, his face hovered over hers, his penetrating blue eyes widened in the darkness. He kissed her passionately, then cupped her face with one hand in a tender, loving gesture, tracing his fingers along her cheek line.

Suddenly, he started drawing himself inside her more aggressively, more passionately. The difference struck Relena like lightning, and she hardly found enough self-control to hold back a high, sensual moan. Her bare nipples were stroked repeatedly by a material of his shirt. She strengthened her senses, desperately trying to keep in her chest a cry of pleasure. Heero let his head fall into a crook of her neck; she sensed his hot and quick breath on her skin. Relena squeezed her eyes and threw her head back in ecstasy, her whole body writhing out of pleasure. Heero held her tight as she started falling apart, her body burning, drops of sweat were dripping down her skin. The bliss of her climax almost blinded her. A warm wave flooded her body several times, sending shivers down her limbs and made her arc her spine upwards.

Heero followed her soon after, collapsing into her arms between her spread legs, breathing heavily. Catching her breath, Relena wrapped her arms around him, and so they rested in silence, one inside the other, absorbing their mutual closeness. The night air trembled around them, moved by their shallow breaths, and tense with the force of the bond that attracted them to each other. Slowly regaining her logical thinking and senses, Relena started again getting aware of their surroundings; they were still lying on the floor in a room full of sleeping men. And they had just made love.

"Heero…" she breathed his name when he was lying still in her arms. She could feel his heart, its beating pulsating rhythmically through his skin against the surface of her chest, just on the other side of her own heart; it was so strong that she felt as if she had two hearts... Relena raked her spread fingers through his thick hair over his scalp and held his head close to her heart, inhaling his scent.

"Why did you come here…?"

Relena held her breath at those words of his. Gently, slowly, she stroked his head, waiting for him to continue. There was no remorse in his voice.

It was despair.

"Why, Relena?" Heero whispered with a shaky voice, his hand slipping up her ribs and resting just below her breast. "You're hurting, you will be hurting, and it's because of me. I'm disgusted with myself…"

"Heero, no…," Relena gasped, stroking his head and caressing the back of his neck, hugging him closer to her heart. _Why? _

_Don't you know 'why'?_

"I would gladly give my life for you..." Heero sucked a breath through clenched teeth then tilted his head, pressing his forehead to her chest. His shoulders tensed in a soundless, _painful_ struggle that started whipping inside him as he silently gasped, "you would be better off without me…"

"Heero, please… look at me."

Though with hesitation, Heero eventually braced himself on his elbows, lifting some of his weight off her. Once he hovered above her, he gazed expectantly and longingly at her from behind his unruly bangs.

"I didn't come here to say goodbye," she whispered, looking him straight into his steely eyes. "This is _not_ goodbye."

A spark of emotion and unnamed longing flickered in his eyes at her words, then he made a surrendering sigh. Relena cupped his cheek until he caught her hand with his own.

"Relena, please… Let me go…," he breathed beggingly.

Relena sucked air in her lungs, feeling her tears welling up. Somewhere at the other end of the room, someone coughed loudly again. They froze for a moment, staring at each other, looking at every detail to remember each other.

_What answer can you give when the person you love above all else in the world wants to be exposed to mortal danger?_ Relena asked herself in her mind, looking at Heero.

"You'll be safer here than in any zone. There are people here who will be good for you," Heero whispered, frowning intently at her. He suspended his voice for a moment to bring her hand to his lips and kiss it. "Please, stay. This is now the only thing I can do to protect you."

Though she couldn't hold back her tears any longer and they dripped down her cheeks, she frowned straight into his beautiful eyes.

_I'm so powerless… I'm nothing without you._

Eventually, she managed to find what was left of her voice. And remember the decision she had made.

"You can't die yet," she whispered. "I'll stay, I'll take care of myself to become strong… I'll be waiting for you to come and take us to Houston. Just like you promised to Duo. Just like you promised me."

Heero looked at her with his inscrutable eyes without interrupting her, without any protest against her words.

"Relena…"

"You can't die… you can't leave me here…" Relena sobbed silently, hugging his hand to her cheek, already wet of tears. "I have to fulfill the promise I made to you."

Heero tilted his head and pressed their foreheads together, one of his hands caressing the side of her face, brushing away her tears. He remained silent, and Relena closed her eyes, inhaling slowly, then snaked her hands around his torso to keep him close.

.

.

.

* * *

TBC

Hello again!

I hope you're doing well and staying safe during the coronavirus pandemic. I hope that wherever you are, you take care of yourself and your loved ones by staying at home, and if you have to go out, you're always very careful. I hope this nightmare will finish soon.

Some of you may ask: why Heero is so persistent? You'll find out the answer in the next chapters. Meanwhile, they both go through a hard time, as they need to part... The idea that they would make love such an unexpected place came to my mind for a long time, finally I was able to refine it in terms of language and literature. But when the whole world collapses, can you say that love is in any way wrong? I hope it warmed your hearts just a little, regardless of the circumstances.

Writing this story had become a kind of therapy to me - in these hard times.

~enelle


	31. Chapter 31 - The Departure x

**Chapter 31 - The Departure**

_Heero POV_

_._

_He realized that he didn't want to live anymore._

_He freed himself of all these shitty feelings that accompany humans while dealing with death; he felt no fear, regret, or longing. No excitement, relief, or impatience either. He felt nothing - maybe except for the anxiety that he would miss that moment when he would break the chains of this miserable life. He wanted to experience death. She seemed better than life; everything was better._

_He killed a man again… many men. Just like yesterday, the day before yesterday, two days ago, a week ago, a month ago. In a world suffering from the dreadful pandemic, where living through every day was the result of superhuman effort and God's spark, he would cut the threads of human lives, break them, burn, annihilate. _

_He was fed up with life, this prolonging torture, dying in installments. As if he had stood for a long time at the threshold of a dark room. Only one step separated him from diving into the dark. Into the soothing silence and darkness... All he had to do was make a single step and close the door._

_But killing himself would have been too easy. And wrongful towards all those he had killed._

_Rolling back the already hunger rations had turned out to be the last straw that broke the camel's back. The zone had rebelled against the army and FEDRA. No government longer existed in the city. Despite this, there was still not enough food. Subsequent groups of rebels, so unite in the first days of the revolution, now continued on splitting like cells into smaller and smaller ones, then started hunting one the other - to get a little more food. Pulling the whole city into fratricidal battle._

_As if a deadly virus wasn't enough._

_The city was burning around him, for the fifth day. Bloodred flames consumed every building that still stood, every street, every man, every infected. A glow of red light was the only streetlight that illuminated the way, the subway entrances resembled the gates to the inferno. Clouds of thick, black smoke obscured the sky for another day so that it was impossible to tell whether it was day or night. The streets turned into a battlefield, corpses were rotting right where they fell, twisted in scary poses. There was heard an unbearable, deafening, endless buzz of countless swarms of flies. The towering, trembling shadows of either men or infected kept passing by under the walls of the ruins and makeshift barricades. Their screams were reflected endlessly in the streets, acquiring a terrible tone, like voices from the depths of hell._

_He was starving, but his stomach no longer took any food. His lungs and insides were filled with black smoke, he coughed with the black ick mixed with blood, continually feeling a metallic taste in his mouth. As if he was rotting from the inside. Acid, toxic rain flowed down his forehead and neck, irritated his eyes and nostrils, devoured in glowing, open wounds. His body was covered with lots of small injuries that wouldn't heal. _

_He was glad he didn't stumble on an opportunity to see his face; he probably wouldn't have recognized himself._

_He clenched his eyes as if it was enough to not see any of this anymore. Clutching his rifle in his arms, he wrapped his legs and arms around it and propped his forehead against cold metal like a pillow. He tried to fall asleep at least for a moment, with the cold brick wall of the dilapidated house behind his back. Just a few more minutes before somebody will shake him abruptly by his shoulder, maybe give him a kick or punch, make him shoot again. At who? For what reason? What side he was fighting on, exactly? Did it make any difference still?_

_He turned twenty this year and was still alive. Death wasn't coming to him, though he was ready. She was surely offended at him._

_How much he hated himself…_

…_how much he wanted to die already._

x

_Next morning_

_._

Slowly scratching with a pencil angular, small letters on a piece of paper soaked in morning dew, Heero suddenly hesitated for a moment. He raised his head from the tiny sheet of paper that he had spread over his thigh and gazed outside through the small, smudged stables' window.

He had always avoided unnecessary and decorative words or gestures. He never understood their significance, nor he ever needed them, and so he had underestimated their importance. So, it seemed strange, almost suspicious, writing about such _unarguable_ things in the letter. The first he had written in his life.

Heero bit his lip, hesitating again, surveying his thoughts with bitter judgment, almost incredulity as if they belonged to someone else. After a moment, however, he made a sigh, and, facing the paper again, he finished the sentence he had begun.

Then, all of a sudden, a tall, bay-colored stallion with white markings that had been standing calmly right next to him nuzzled his hooves nervously and tossed his head sideways, tugging at the bit.

"Hey, easy," Heero lifted his head and reassured his unruly companion quietly, to which the horse responded with exasperated nickering. The animal was probably right; _it was already time_. Heero negligently rolled up his scrap of paper around some object, and slipped it into the chest pocket of his jeans jacket, then walked up to his steed, stepping carefully on the straw that filled the loosebox.

Suspecting that the harness was buckled too tight, Heero loosened the straps; it apparently calmed the animal. He patted the horse on its smooth neck, drawing his fingers in its black mane, then put on the saddle. The saddle he had got was a mess: the rug was old, worn-out in a few places, and the rusty belt on the girth seemed as if it was about to break, making a metallic sound when fastened. The whole saddling procedure, due to the fatal condition of the equipment, lasted too long, and eventually, the horse began stamping his hooves nervously on the ground and snorting.

"I know," Heero grunted, finally slamming the disobedient strap around the girth, "to be honest, I don't want to go either. But I guess we're stuck with each other."

The horse snorted even more so disapprovingly at his words as if it meant 'that's my line, man' and Heero couldn't help but chuckle shortly under his breath.

Having fastened his small inventory to the saddle, Heero eventually opened the loosebox and led the horse out of the stable. Although it was still pale dawn, and the sun was hidden behind the horizon, Evergreen was already busy. More armed men led their saddled horses out of the stable, stopping them on a large square just before the gate. They packed their weapons, the rest of their supplies, checked their harnesses and saddles for the last time.

Heero stopped his horse on the marginal of a group of hunters then looked around while busing his hands by correcting the length of his stirrups. The morning fog still lingered above the meadows behind the gate, and its clouds broke through the walls of the settlement, dancing around the silhouettes flashing in the morning twilight, slowly emerging from the surrounding buildings.

"Your guns."

Hearing these words, Heero looked over his shoulder. Trowa was standing right behind him, dressed in a green wind jacket, holding a rifle, a shotgun, and two guns. Heero immediately recognized them as his property.

"I almost thought you wanted me to kill the infected with my bare hands."

Trowa grimaced while passing him the weapons. "Don't be ridiculous."

"Wouldn't dare in your presence."

Trowa seemed to ignore the comment, then turned to leave. "Get ready. We're leaving in a few minutes."

Heero accompanied him with his gaze, then started checking his weapons. The square around him quickly filled up. Women and children approached the men and hugged each other. Evergreen was surely a safe home to so many freely emerging families. It was clear that those children, who ran freely between buildings during the day, had specific fathers and mothers, although they seemed to belong to no one and to everyone in general. In Evergreen, these single bonds were just as outstanding as the bond with the group as a whole.

Refilling the ammunition, Heero caught himself several times, glancing involuntarily toward the women's dormitory; he scolded himself inwardly for that and tightened the strap on the shotgun.

He noticed Catherine that was approaching Trowa with her head bowed in a mourning note. She stopped a few meters from him, while he was adjusting the harness, on the other side of the horse's head and stroked its nostrils. With a slight dose of curiosity, or maybe wanting to chase away the thoughts tormenting him, Heero watched them from afar. Although Catherine's eyes were hidden behind loosely falling auburn hair, it was apparent she was saying something to Trowa. The man listened to her with his head down, checking the harness straps, then looked up, and they both gazed into each other's eyes for a long moment.

Turning his head away from them, Heero faced his own stallion and clipped his guns and shotgun to the saddle. Then he noticed Quatre as he was approaching through the crowd, shaking hands of the surrounding men, patting them on their shoulders. There was no doubt that he was saying goodbye. He alone stayed in Evergreen, on guard.

The blond-haired man finally reached Heero. He patted the horse's smooth neck.

"His name is Zero. He's a good horse, take care of him," he said. "Good luck."

Heero nodded slightly, wondering quietly who had this crazy idea to name a horse with such a strange name. Then Quatre smiled and passed him by, walking towards the others.

"I hope you won't go back on your word," Heero said ominously after him.

Quatre stopped, then looked over his shoulder at Heero.

"I won't. You have my word," he said solemnly. Heero turned, giving the man a searching look. Quatre turned his head away from him for a moment, then looked at Heero again. "I have to go to say goodbye to others. Good luck," he said, turning on his heel.

"There is one more thing."

Quatre stopped at those Heero's words and turned to look at him curiously.

"Say it."

"No matter what happens to me," Heero muttered, "don't let her go looking for me. Or for what's left of me."

Quatre looked at Heero, his soft eyes glowing for the first time. Then he walked close to Heero, leaning toward him conspiratorially.

"I can't promise you that," he whispered. "If I did, I would have to admit then that I'm allowing the possibility that the group won't come back together. I can't do that."

Heero gritted his teeth but tilted his head a bit in Quatre's direction.

"I understand."

Quatre gave Heero one last gentle look.

"I get it, anyway. I won't let anything bad happen to her. Nor let her do anything stupid," he narrowed his eyes at Heero. "But don't even think about not coming back. Don't even think about making her suffer over your death."

Then Quatre turned on his heel and acted as if he wanted to head towards Trowa, but he noticed that Trowa was still talking to Catherine. He stopped in a half step, suddenly heading towards the center of the square. As soon as he entered it, the square became quiet; everyone was waiting for what he would say.

Quatre looked around at everyone present. At first, his face was marked with nervousness and concern, but then his expression changed.

"In the history of every paradise on Earth came a moment when its inhabitants had to stand up for it," he said, looking at those present. "Just like you, I would prefer that this day never came. Neither now, neither ever before and ever in the future."

Zero bowed his head with a short snort as if he had already heard that expose. Meanwhile, Heero crossed his arms on his chest and looked at the people around him. Everyone listened to Quatre carefully, though with undisguised anxiety in their eyes. After a few days at Evergreen, Heero already knew how unfortunate and tragic the previous hunts were, which had already taken place four times.

All the same, he had to agree that it was undoubtedly the only way to keep Evergreen safe. Otherwise, an increased population of infected would storm the gates and bring an end to this paradise. Though common sense dictated going out of safety to face a threat, tangible anxiety and fear were visible in the eyes of each of the men in the group.

"A few days ago, you all saw with your own eyes how many infected people had appeared in the city of Evergreen," Quatre continued, keeping his eyes on Heero for a moment. "Plus, our scouts reported that the situation in Castleberry and Lenox is tragic. Infected are arriving, probably moving through the state in search of food. I need you to keep in mind, although my heart shudders at the very thought of it, that those may be _survivors_, like us, from fallen paradises. Paradises that their inhabitants failed to defend."

A light morning breeze ruffled Heero's hair and roared in his ears when he suddenly sensed a rustle behind him. After a second, two delicate, slim arms wrapped around his waist, and he felt the touch of the precious contour of the beloved face on his back.

"Don't turn around," he heard a thin, familiar voice behind him.

He didn't turn around. He looked down at her delicate hands, his nostrils filled with the subtle, fresh scent of her skin. He didn't even notice when Relena had approached him, and now her presence almost pulled him out of reality. Her closeness was a relief but turned the farewell much tougher simultaneously.

"I want you to remember why you're going," Quatre measured all those present with his bright eyes. "Although we call it _hunting_, it isn't one. You do not go look for food. You do not go to shoot for fun. This is not a sport." Quatre suspended his voice for a moment, letting his words reach even the furthest corner of the square. "You are going to war. A war to defend what is most precious to you. Life. Hope. And everything you love. Everything you want to live for."

Heero felt Relena's arms tighten around him at those words. He sensed that she trembled slightly, challenging to say whether it was because of fear or because of the morning chill. Then he sensed that she pressed her cheek against the particular spot at the level of his shoulder blade, where a stitched hole was still visible. She caressed the spot where he had been shot, nestling up to him, to his back, her knees lightly rubbing his calves. Heero placed both his hands on hers and entwined their fingers, only causing her to snuggle closer to him. Her hands were cold and sweated.

"I'm not considering any other possibility than that _all_ of you, who set off today, will return," Quatre continued, looking at those present. "You know what you have to do. We're waiting for you here, in Evergreen."

Quatre finished his expose and never waiting for that applause that resounded all over he left his oratory spot and headed to where Trowa was standing. The two men looked into each other's eyes for a long time, then hugged each other tightly like brothers. Long. Long enough that Catherine, that was standing right next to the horse all this time, suddenly bowed her head and slowly backed away. In the end, Quatre left Trowa and turned away to say goodbye to the other participants.

Heero glanced back over his shoulder. Relena didn't look up at him, still pressing her face to his back. He gently untangled her arms from his waist, turning around to face her. That moment she finally tilted her head up. Her eyes were still slightly red after she had been crying earlier at night, her cheeks inflamed, the cerulean blue of her bottomless eyes dimmed. She looked at him worriedly.

As they stood, none of them said a word.

"On your horses, gentlemen!" Trowa suddenly shouted, already sitting in a saddle.

This signal started a loud commotion in the square. People fell into each other's last embrace, they kissed, they swore eternal feelings and wished good luck. More and more men climbed their horses and stood at the gate to Evergreen. Women and children watched them, standing on the edge of the square.

So they were parting. For the first time since leaving Philadelphia, more than five months ago already, he was leaving her. Five months ago, he wouldn't have hesitated in a similar situation to make such a decision; however, nothing was more the same.

Relena grasped him by his jacket.

"This is _not_ goodbye, remember?" she whispered. She gazed at him with sharp, fierce eyes. It was an intense look, devoured of any doubt. Heero remembered that was how she had looked at him the day they had met.

He cupped Relena's face, but she shrugged his hand and snaked her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her. He held her tight, lifting off the ground, plunging his hands in her hair. His chest filled with the familiar warmth he felt whenever she was close and which was becoming addictive. Along with this, he suddenly felt a strange feeling.

Fear.

He feared death - for the first time in his life.

He wanted to live. He finally had a reason.

This realization triggered fear in him.

More and more men on horseback were passing their standing silhouettes, marching toward the gate, like a river flowing around protruding boulders. Heero could hear hoof beating behind the gates, and hasty commands in his ears, and Trowa's urging… The atmosphere around them was getting tense, full of expectation. They couldn't linger any longer.

"Go," Relena said shakily into his ear, pushing him gently away from her, letting him go and making a single step back, her voice trembling.

Looking into her ocean depts, Heero pulled an object from his jacket pocket, casually wrapped in a piece of paper, and pressed it into her hand. Relena shot her eyes at him with surprise, as if she wanted to say anything. She fell silent, however, drawing only a nervous breath, when Heero bent his head and kissed her hand, holding it between both of his, gently closing the grip of her fingers around the object.

.

_I hoped that you would survive as long as possible. That maybe you will survive this hell. That maybe in this damn world, you will find some happiness._

_Act on your emotions, Heero. Just like I did._

.

"Heero…"

"Stay safe, Relena," he whispered, his breath warming the skin on her knuckles.

Then he pulled back and let go of her.

He stood at an angle to the side of his horse, rested his left foot on the stirrup and having grasped both sides of the saddle, he climbed the horse with one quick leap. Zero flung his head violently, letting out a nervous neigh. Heero grabbed the reins with one hand and turned the horse around to face Relena one last time. He looked down at her as she stood helplessly, tugging her hands to her chest, one of which was clenching the slim object.

He clenched his teeth and pulled his right rein, while pressing his right calf against the side of the horse, turning with his back to her. When the main gate opened, and the group rode with a quick trot outside, Heero remembered the moment when he left Relena upstairs in her parents' home in Washington.

Now, just like that time, he couldn't turn around anymore, for there was no force on Earth that would allow him to leave her then.

x

_Meantime_

The fog was spilled on the meadows and forests like a cloud that had fallen from the sky. Grave silence resounded all around, the birds hadn't sung yet, and the morning chill painfully bit into the skin. The world seemed suspended between day and night, between being a black and white movie and one filmed in Technicolor. The sun was still hidden over the horizon when a group of Fireflies left the suburbs of another deserted town of Alabama and made a short stop at one of the hills just outside the city.

A tall, long-haired man came out to the head of the group and scanned the horizon through the binoculars. He was silent for a long moment, staring somewhere far beyond the distant meadows, at a darkening point that was slowly emerging from the fog, its contours sharpening.

Dorothy Catalonia left the group and came up to the man, looking in the exact same direction.

"…what's that?"

The man pushed the binoculars away for a moment and frowned into the distance with his pale blue eyes.

"Look, Dorothy," he muttered, passing her the binoculars. "Such a view isn't to be seen often now. Miserable attempts to restore normality despite everything... resistant like sandcastles on the beach."

Dorothy looked through the binoculars for a moment, and staring at that strange, dark point beyond the meadows, she snorted softly.

"I didn't realize such places still exist."

The tall man was silent, gazing at the horizon with his celadon eyes. The morning wind that suddenly rose over the meadows began to sweep away the fog, the sky in the east began to turn a golden hue. The man narrowed his eyes and leaned his arms on his knee.

"Something's happening," Dorothy murmured with apparent excitation, as she sharpened her view through the binoculars, "I see horses… a large group is currently leaving the settlement," she muttered, "they're armed…"

Dorothy pushed the binoculars away from her eyes and let out a devilish giggle.

"Wanna give it a try?" she asked. "It should be an easy bite."

The tall man smiled ominously.

"Tempting…"

.

.

.

* * *

TBC

Will something terrible happen? Will Evergreen be attacked by the Fireflies…?

I always loved the idea about Heero riding a horse - it surely had the origin in the anime episode. When writing this chapter, I could remember all those equipment details, as I had been doing horseback riding too. So it was a bit melancholic for me. And Heero on the horse is just one of the sexiest things I could imagine.

And yes, the horse's name is Zero… that probably made you laugh, as much as I did :) But I thought this is a suitable name for him, as he'll become his companion from now on.

What's in the note Heero's been scratching in the stables? Any guesses? What can I say… you need to wait just a little bit more to find out… It's probably easy to find out what he gave to Relena, but what did he wrote in the note?

And I must state, that Heero kissing Relena's hand is sort of my favorite headcanon…

If you liked the story so far or disliked it, please let me know by leaving a review. I love reading your feedback, it gives me many hints about things I should pay more attention to, things that you consider important - everything that makes me feel a part of this great community of 1xR lovers.

Stay safe,

~enelle


	32. Chapter 32 - The Separation Part 1

**Chapter 32 - The Separation Part 1**

_A week later_

_Relena POV_

_._

Relena walked to the well and dropped the bucket inside. After a few seconds, she heard the sound of splashing water from below. When she leaned over the hole, she felt a draught of pleasant, cold air from the depth, so refreshing and soothing in the ubiquitous heat of the early afternoon. She brushed her bangs off her sweaty forehead, then leaned over the well and pulled the rope.

"Ugh… so heavy," she sighed softly under her breath, but clenched fingers on the rope, slowly pulling the bucket up.

"Relena, do you need help?"

Relena glanced over her shoulder at the group of young men - Sally's patients, standing in the shade near the hospital barrack. They were smiling impishly at her. She made a sigh; her back as she leaned over the well in her shorts was probably a pleasant sight for them.

"No, thanks, I can handle it," she replied back, pulling the bucket up to the edge of the well. Icy water spouted from the bucket, pleasantly cooling her hands. She wiped her forehead again, unstrapped the bucket, and headed in the hospital's direction.

One of the staring men, with dark jet-black shoulder-length hair and one hand in a sling, left the group and ran to her.

"Give it to me," he said, unexpectedly tearing the bucket out of her hand with his healthy one. Relena looked up at him and smiled.

"Thanks, Jared," she replied, massaging her sore fingers as she continued walking next to him. "It's the third one today, little Joe is still feverish."

"Poor lad, it has to be knackering in such a heat."

Relena ran up and opened the hospital door before Jared, then quickly walked through the corridor. "Put this bucket here," she pointed to a small table at the entrance to one of the two hospital rooms. Jared picked up the bucket himself and set it with a slight buzz on the table. "Thanks."

"Sure thing," Jared smiled at her, brushing dark hair back. He measured her with his green, grass-like eyes so carelessly and defiantly that Relena felt a slight shiver over her neck and looked away. "You know that you can always count on me."

"Appreciate it," Relena replied, then tilted the bucket and poured some water into a smaller bowl, then tore white rags into smaller pieces. When she looked up, Jared was still standing in the same place, smiling knowingly at her. Relena felt a nervous smile crawl over her face. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Maybe…"

He scanned her form from head to toes, maybe even through her clothes. Seeing Jared's face, so evidently flirtatious, Relena snorted and laughed, feeling an unpleasant twinge in her heart at the same time.

"Knock it off, Jared," she mumbled, then lifted the bowl and headed for the hall with the rags. "Keep your smiles for the evening when we change your dressing. Maybe Sally will blow on the wound, so it doesn't hurt."

Jared moaned at the memory of painful surgery on his wounded shoulder. "It hurts less when you do it!"

Relena laughed nervously as she walked into the room and closed the door behind her, then sighed deeply.

Jared was a nice guy. Like all Evergreen residents, she practically had no reason to complain about him or others. As the days passed, however, Relena had the impression that some guys started behaving too confidential and unambiguous towards her. It wasn't insistent though, she didn't feel threatened, only embarrassed. So far, they kept their hands to themselves.

Every window in the room was opened, so a pleasant draft was filling the room. Windows were covered by curtains, and hardly any sunlight came in. Relena passed three beds standing next to each other, two of which were empty. In the third, a teenage girl with braided red hair was sleeping peacefully. Relena threw a cautious glance at her, then walked up to a bed at the very end, against the wall, and set the bowl on the bedside table.

"Joe," she whispered gently, sitting on the edge.

The little boy was dozing, lying on his side, facing the wall. Relena reached out to touch him and narrowed her eyes with anxiety; he was sweaty, and his forehead was still hot to the touch. She shook his shoulder gently. "Joe, baby, wake up."

The boy purred his disapproval almost unconsciously, then slowly rolled onto his back. Relena lifted him by his armpits and seated him on the bed. He still didn't open his eyes and felt limp in her arms.

"You poor thing, you're all drenched with sweat," she sighed, brushing his wet bangs aside. "You think you can help me change you into fresh clothes?"

Joe eventually lifted his eyelids, revealing his glassy, feverish eyes, but said nothing. When he lifted his arms slightly up, Relena smiled to him, then took off his sweaty shirt, quickly putting on a dry one.

"Atta boy. Come to me…" she whispered reassuringly, taking a baby boy in her arms and lifting him off the bed. The boy's skin was warm and smelled of chamomile. He wrapped his small arms around her neck, nuzzling into her. With her spare hand, Relena turned over the bedding on the other side and laid the boy back to bed, covering him with a new quilt. Then she dipped a rag in the water from the bowl, and carefully rested a cold compress on the boy's forehead.

"It hurts…" the boy mumbled, holding his belly with one hand.

"I know, honey. It'll pass soon, I promise."

She smiled comfortingly to him, stroking his hair. It was already the second day when Joe was suffering after he had eaten poisoned berries. Fortunately, he hadn't eaten many of them, but his body was already exhausted by the fight against intoxication. Sally had given him her most active laxative herbs; throughout the first day, the kid was almost continually vomiting. Today he was only feverish.

"Try to get some sleep, ok?"

"Don't go," Joe squealed plaintively, narrowing his eyebrows. "I don't want to be alone."

"I won't," Relena shook her head with a gentle smile. "I'll stay here with you."

Joe nodded, then closed his eyes, but hesitantly. While Relena was sitting at Joe's side, caressing his cheeks and holding his little hand, watching his little chest fall and rise with each breath, she realized that she already liked this poor baby boy.

He had beautiful, cold-blue eyes. Just like Heero.

Relena realized that she hadn't had much to do with children before. They hadn't been almost any in the zone, but here they were a lot of them. Hence, she was surprised by the intensity of the caring instinct that she developed here, helping these little patients.

Relena reached and stroked Joe's wet hair again, the image of Heero still lingering in her thoughts. Especially, the expression on his face as he climbed the horse and turned to her last time kept coming back before her eyes. He was calm as usual, but in that look of his..., she sensed something had changed. She wondered what he was doing now…

When Joe's breath evened, Relena left a gentle kiss on the boy's forehead and got up. Before she left, she checked by the red-head girl, but she was still sleeping peacefully.

When she left the room, she ran straight into wired Sally.

"There you are!" the woman gasped, grabbing Relena by the arm. "Grab all the water we have and heat it. Prepare clean rags."

"What happened?"

A loud, female moaning coming from one of the rooms suddenly interrupted their conversation.

"Is that...?" Relena muttered, feeling her stomach squeeze from sudden stress.

"Yes," Sally nodded, "Evelyn started giving birth. Get ready!"

x x x

_Heero POV_

_._

The campfire had long since gone out - now it was just a pile of glowing, red coals and a pillar of thin smoke floating toward the sky. The forest was plunged in grave silence; there was no roar of animals, no chirping of birds, no rustle of wind in the high branches. Between the high treetops, the sky was gradually changing its color - from black and dark blue to light blue, with a lick of a pink glow in the East.

Heero slowly opened his eyes, waking up from his short, dreamless rest, then lifted himself to a sitting position from a makeshift bed of his own jacket spread across the bare ground. The cold soil smelled of pine needles, his clothes were damp of the dew, he felt his shoulders and knees chilled. A freezing chill ran through his body. Although days were hot to the limit, the forest at four in the morning was acutely cold and humid.

He looked around, carefully examining the surroundings. The whole group seemed to be still sleeping; everyone was so exhausted that they wouldn't even snore. He noticed only one figure at the campfire. Heero got up and, after shaking a jacket out of dry grass and pine pins, ambled between sleeping companions and horses to the campfire.

Trowa was rubbing his frozen hands, kneeling by the dying fire. When he heard the rustle of Heero's feet on the dry grass, he looked up, measuring him with green eyes. Heero glared in silence at the man, then kneeled down next to the fire, moving his hands closer to the heat.

"I've just checked the ravine," Trowa said, looking down at the campfire. "The infected took the bait. They're starting to gather there."

Heero nodded knowingly.

Only a few hundred meters away from them, the narrow gorge turned out to be the perfect ambush spot for at least a dozen infected. It was a simple trick: bring them there from a nearby village, first by using noise and then with the help of a freshly shot doe. After all, it was way easier to shoot multiple targets from above, from behind the trees.

"We'll wait until dawn," Trowa muttered, flexing his fingers. "I hope _this time_ we'll do without any major complications."

Meaning: zero deaths. Quatre's dream was just too naïve to be true.

Since they left Evergreen, two of their men were down already. Harry and Trenton. They perished in Centerville. Twenty-year-old Trenton was supposedly "lucky"; Clicker lunged at him and almost bit his head off. He died fast. In contrast, eighteen-year-old Harry had been bitten in the hand while defending himself against Runner. After the fight, he had shot himself in the head, afraid of a turn.

"Now it's your shift," Trowa muttered with a cold voice, eyeing Heero. "If something happens, come back and report immediately."

Heero stood up without a word and walked over to Zero, taking his rifle off the saddle. The horse wasn't particularly interested in the arrival of its master; he opened lazily one eye, then hung his head again, resting standing.

"…could you at least give me the slightest sign that you've understood what I was saying to you?" Heero heard Trowa's irritated voice behind but ignored him. He shouldered his rifle and headed into the dark thicket, away from the camp.

He moved slowly and carefully through the labyrinth of high trees, trying to wander through the dried-out forest undergrowth as silently as possible. As he was walking further away from the camp, he bent his knees and passed under low-growing branches, his hearing and eyes strained on the faintest move or noise.

Finally, in the silence of the forest, he heard the familiar, sinister sound. He felt his blood chill, but he didn't slow down. The sounds of clicking and wheezing bounced off around the forest, echoing between the dry tree trunks. They were getting louder and louder with each step he took.

Approaching the ravine, Heero laid himself flat on the ground and slowly crawled across the grass forward, grasping his rifle in front of him. Stopping just before the edge, he carefully lifted himself on his elbows, looking through the grass down at a group of infected on the bottom of the ravine.

There were over a dozen of them, certainly about twenty. The dead deer's body had been devoured to the bone long ago. The monsters moved chaotically around the closed space of the ravine as if remaining in a state of strange suspension. Unaware of the ambush awaiting them with the coming of morning. Unaware that they'll all be dead by the sunrise.

Heero placed his weapon on the ground in front of him and rested his chin on crossed arms, watching the bloodthirsty group from above the grass line. He narrowed his eyebrows. Some of the infected looked _fresh_. As if they had turned quite recently. They were wearing uncluttered clothes, they still had _faces_...

After several minutes, seeing that the infected were still calm, Heero rolled onto his side and then onto his back. The blades of grass tickled the back of his neck, and sensing the chill from the ground transferring to his body once more, he crossed arms over his chest to keep warm. He gazed high above, at the patch of sky between the treetops. The sky was already colored in bright blue and pink, the last stars started fading in the distance. He heard birds twittering somewhere deep in the forest. Soon the first rays of the sun will begin to break through the dense branches.

In such moments, just before dawn, no matter where he was or what he was doing, he was always thinking about Relena.

x x x

_Relena POV_

_._

Just before she entered the building, she felt a strange tingling at the back of her neck, as if someone was watching her. Relena turned around, but there was no one behind her in the square. She sighed, then smiled a sad smile to herself.

_I miss you too. So much_, she thought, staring at the last disappearing stars on the navy sky. The glow of day was already flickering, the light was fighting the final accord in its battle against darkness. _I hope you're safe, Heero._

As soon as she entered her room, she threw herself on the bed, making a loud sigh.

"Where were you?" she heard Catherine's concerned voice. She was surprised; she thought her friend was already asleep.

"Evelyn gave birth. It took her all day and night..."

"Oh, God. Is everything all right now?"

Relena chuckled. "It's at best. The baby's doing very well. So is the mother."

"What a relief," Catherine sighed, sitting up on her bed.

"So those were _her_ screams we heard all the time," Silvia added from the corner of the room. "It was scary."

"Childbirth's nothing pleasant," Catherine sighed.

"Tell me about it," Relena hissed, covering her face with both hands. "I've never seen so much blood in my life."

"Okay, shut up now, I want to sleep," Silvia muttered in her usual, nasty tone, rolling on the other side, toward the wall.

Relena sat upright on the bed with a soft sigh. Catherine gazed at her with a smile, then started getting up from her bed. "Good job, then. You were brave," she whispered.

"Not me, Evelyn was brave," Relena gasped, true to her words. "You're not going to sleep?"

"I've got enough sleep already. But you're probably exhausted," Catherine said, then sat next to the window, reaching for a piece of cloth, needle, and scissors. "Sleep well, I'll just sew a hole in my shirt."

Relena fell down onto her pillow, laid on her side, then closed her eyes. After a moment, however, she remembered something she always wanted to ask Catherine.

"You know, Catherine," Relena whispered, "I've been thinking for days about that. All these restrictions with different bedrooms for men and women… and yet… there are so many children here."

Catherine sent her a smile tilting her head up from over her work. "Yeah. No mystery in that. They are born out of love that breaks all rules." She hung her voice as if she mulled over her words, then added in a sad voice: "There's love here. We all love."

Relena eyes her friend with curiosity then grinned playfully.

"Whom do you love, Catherine? I'm sure you do too."

Catherine smiled back so sadly that Relena probably hadn't seen any sadder smile in her life. "I do," she whispered. "But, it's not mutual."

Relena felt her smile disappear from her face as she realized what an awkward subject she had touched by her careless question. "Catherine…"

"Sleep, Relena," Catherine interrupted her with her usual, merry voice. "Quatre said that he'll arrange a horseback riding practice for you tomorrow. Well, technically… today. You have to rest at least a bit."

Relena muttered something in agreement. She bowed her head, feeling powerless against the apparent Catherine's suffering, but decided to respect her right to leave it for herself. She slowly turned onto her side and faced the wall. But she didn't want to sleep.

Trying to stay soundless, she reached and pulled out from under her pillow long, glassy vial, wrapped in a crumpled piece of paper. As if it was the most precious relic, Relena gently unwrapped the paper and spread it on the mattress, smoothing the wrinkled texture with her fingers, careful not to blur the already fading message. As her fingertips ran over the angular letters, she felt warmth radiating onto her body through their meaning. As if a part of him was enchanted in his handwriting.

When she drew her hand back, shy light of the morning lightened up the text she'd read repeatedly since Heero had pressed the vaccine vial with the attached note into her hand, right before he had left:

_**Relena**_

_**I'll keep my promise. **__**Wait for me **_

_**and keep this safe. **_

_**You know that I love you**_

_**H.**_

.

* * *

TBC

I want to take this place to recommend to all of you, who don't know The Last of Us, to discover this series.

Also, I would like to thank all of you for your reviews! Each of your comments is a signal to me that this story deserves to be pulled to the end. Thank you again for your support!

Yes, Heero finally said the "L" word. Well, technically speaking… he wrote it. And, also technically speaking, he didn't say it directly but simply stated that it was something Relena _had_ _to know_. Well, that's how I imagine his confession. After all, Relena knows him so well, maybe better than he knows himself... she always read flawlessly everything that tattered him. Could he suppose that it would be different when it comes to this humble affection he had for her?

Well, for now, Dorothy and her gang aren't attacking Evergreen... Does this mean that Relena is safe? Maybe yes, maybe no... You will find out in the following chapters.

I have to say it is hard for me to write the fragments where they are separated. I feel for them and feel this pain of their separation almost tangibly. It is surprising, after all, in the original story, the separation was an integral part of their lives.

I need to apologize for something. In the previous chapter, it apparently wasn't much clearly defined, from whose perspective I write the beginning - the flashback. As a rule, all flashbacks in this story were from Heero's perspective, and that hasn't changed. To be sincere, it's mainly the story told from his POV, Relena's part is much smaller, though continue to develop. However, I noticed that the fact that the phrase "Heero POV" appeared after this passage caused some of you to think that this flashback actually wasn't from Heero's perspective. I have already corrected the mistake, sorry for the misunderstanding.

In later chapters you will get clarifications in this regard, but not yet. The only thing I can say right now is that Heero's past in this universe is also full of black cards. He was dragged into battle on various sides from an early age, trying to survive. Life didn't spare him, and this moment presented in the last flashback is actually his darkest moment.

O shoot, when did this afterword turned so long? I need to wrap it.

Stay safe,

~enelle89


	33. Chapter 33 - The Separation Part 2

**Chapter 33 - The Separation Part 2**

_Two weeks later_

_Heero POV_

_._

Holding Zero by the bridle, Heero carefully led his horse through the devastated yard. His shoes slid down the crumbled, dust-covered debris that Zero's hooves crushed with a loud crunch. It wasn't a safe crossing for horse hooves, so they moved slowly but steadily, eventually reaching the shady corner of the yard, under a high wall of a crumbling house. Crossing the line of shadow, Heero let go of the horse while he slumped in the shade, exhaling a deep sigh with his head propped up against a building.

Stopping right next to his master, Zero snorted loudly and shook his head, his bay hair glistening with moisture of his sweat. Heero took a water bottle from his backpack and took a long sip, then poured water inside the palm of his hand, letting the horse lick it.

The sun was mercilessly scorching the earth for several hours, while the group got stuck in the village of Castleberry. They just had a clash with the largest group of infected since they left Evergreen. Judging by the scraps of clothes they found on the monsters, it had been once a military unit sent from one of the zones on the coast.

Resting in his shadowed spot, Heero watched his companions with attentive eyes. They all trailed on drained legs, their arms pulled down by the weight of the weapons, their foreheads and necks sunburned and covered with sweat, their eyes resigned and their breaths too fast and shallow. It was apparent to Heero that these frequent skirmishes with infected carried a significant psychological burden for those men, so used to living their days in peaceful seclusion.

After more than two weeks on the road, it was already easy to tell solely by the look in their eyes: they were _scared_. With each battle, which they barely got alive from, they were realizing again and again that their home, Evergreen, was only a tiny, almost undetectable island in the ocean of chaos and death that consumed the world. They were losing their enthusiasm and hope, their faces turned gray, their movements weren't so studied and nimble like just after they left home. What's more, they were witnessing the death of their friends. Fear and regret deprived them of the ability to concentrate and coolly assess each of the dangerous situations they stumbled upon. They kept making more and more mistakes.

How well he knew these stages of the development of the disaster. He had witnessed it more than once, on many battlefields...

One thing was distinctive here, though: none of the Evergreen men wanted to go back, behind the safe walls. Nobody even talked about this. Not before they finished what they had headed for.

"Get up! Get on your fucking feet! We need to move forward!"

Heero rubbed the sweat off his face with the back of his hand, fixing his gaze at Trowa. The green-eyed commander approached each of the men, jerking them to their feet, commanding loudly. Every one he turned to obediently stood up on staggering legs, looking around with undisguised shame that he allowed himself to show weakness at all.

But Heero didn't stand from his spot in the cold shadow. Instead, he rested his rifle on his lap and began slowly loading the ammo. He gazed with cold eyes at the madness that seemed to engulf the group and the commander. The unit got reduced by almost a quarter since the beginning of the journey. Even so, the men obediently stood at Trowa's commands.

"The longer we sit here, the more we risk," Trowa continued, walking between his men. "We have only one district left, and we'll retire to the forest by the evening."

Heero sighed disapprovingly and allowed his eyes cast down at the weapon on his lap. He could already hear the increasing sound of heavy footsteps approaching him through the rubble, but he didn't lift his head.

He already knew the outcome.

"What's up, smuggler? Waiting for me to issue you an invitation in writing?" he heard Trowa's impatient, a little hoarse and breathless voice from above. "On your feet. Move your ass."

Heero eventually looked up but didn't move an inch, patiently loading more shotgun shells.

"We should stay here until evening."

Trowa's eyes narrowed, flooded with anger and impatience.

"Look around, Yuy, because I feel like you missed something. Do you see those corpses around? We barely survived," Trowa hung his voice for a moment. "By staying here, we expose ourselves to another attack. Will you take responsibility for that?"

"Only with the leadership included," Heero grunted. "Before you kill us all."

A discontentful murmur of the rest of the group answered him. Men started commenting on the recluse smuggler, that pushed the stick into the anthill once again, while Trowa kept his hostile eyes on Heero.

"Such insubordination in military troops or in the zone is intolerable. You're nobody special here, so better stop testing me. Get up."

Heero still didn't move.

"You put your people at completely unnecessary risk," he drawled. "In these conditions, it means certain death."

"Enough."

Zero backed and nickered shortly with surprise at the sudden and aggressive move when Trowa drew and aimed his gun between Heero's eyes. Heero furrowed his eyebrows, glaring fearlessly at Trowa from above the barrel.

"…you pitiful asshole."

A murmur filled the square again. Hearing the insult, Trowa raised his chin gently, then flicked off the safety of his gun.

"You won't get another warning," Trowa growled, then added in a whisper. "Don't tempt me to change my mind."

Heero slammed the magazine in, then slowly got on his feet and approached the tall, green-eyed man.

"The infected aren't here _yet_," he said with a calm, controlled voice. His gaze never left Trowa's eyes as he murmured to him silently enough that the others didn't hear him. "If they appear, we will fight. While they're gone, that's our moment to rest. Leaving this place, wandering in this heat, we'll lose strength faster, and we'll only attract more infected."

Trowa narrowed his eyes on Heero.

"How many groups have you already led?" he hissed. "As far as I know, you failed to lead even _a woman_ safely through the city."

Heero clenched his fists angrily, sending Trowa a sinister glare, but getting a bunch of hostile looks, he kept his mouth shut.

x x x

_Relena POV_

_._

She wasn't breathing air anymore. She _was_ air.

She flew with the wind, interfusing it through, merging with it. She flew far away from here. She didn't see the world only through the doors of her eyes; for now, there was no barrier of corporeality or spirituality between them.

She slowly drifted away, and waves of aromas permeated through her: ripening grain, wet peatlands, and smelly swamps, majestic and coniferous forests and rushing rivers. She floated over the wastelands, and deserted villages carried like the fragile dust by a warm summer wind.

To where he was now. To envelop him comfortably with the breeze like with her own arms. Or suck him like a tornado and bring him back here…

…oh, she was never a model of patience.

"Relena?"

Ripped out of her moment of melancholy, Relena opened her eyes and looked up at the sound of a familiar voice.

"I'm sorry… Did I disturb you?"

"Quatre…" she muttered absentmindedly, still a little startled. "No, not at all... I just came here to…"

"…ponder?" Quatre laughed gently as he walked over to her and leaned against the railing of the wall. "I like to come here too. Look at this view."

They both looked down at the meadows and woods surrounding Evergreen. There was an intimidating view of the horizon from here; in the distance, darkened the dark scratches of the Evergreen suburbs.

"Indeed," Relena sighed. The view was truly serene. The world taken away from people, taken over again by nature, seemed much more beautiful than when it was in the hands of people. Relena tilted her head and looked at Quatre. "How do you do? Since I came here, we almost had no time to talk."

"It's partly my fault. I wanted to give you space to acclimatize here. I'm sorry if you felt neglected."

"It's okay," Relena shook her head. "I'm doing fine here."

She failed to hide the soft sigh of longing in her voice. This didn't escape Quatre's attention, but he was tactful as usual.

"What happened to you, Relena? After the outbreak?" he asked with a gentle voice. "How did you survive?"

Relena folded her hands in front of her. Turning back to her memories of the first years after the outbreak was always painful. Those were memories of a child whose stable and safe world had collapsed forever; the child can never understand why something like this happened.

"On the outbreak day," she started after a long moment of silence, nervously toying with her fingers, "everything happened so fast. It separated us. About a month later, my father and I left the Washington DC zone and headed to Philadelphia QZ. We stayed there for twenty whole years."

"Actually… why Philadelphia QZ?"

"Father-" Relena started, nervously debating in her soul whether she should tell Quatre everything…

"_Dad, when we'll go back home? What if mum and Milliardo come and won't find us there?"_

"_Relena... We can't go back there."_

She felt that little girl again, gazing confidingly in her father's concerned eyes. He was a hero for her; he could always find a solution to all problems and never lacked the right words to say. But at that moment, those blue eyes of his, so similar to hers, were obscured by fog. He never got out of grief after losing his wife, his first-born son, and the World that he had wanted to save from destruction. Never after did he find the right words to explain to his daughter that life would never be the same again.

Relena gazed at her father through the eyes of imagination. A father who kept disappearing for days and nights, leaving her alone in a safe, four-locked flat in the central part of the Philadelphia QZ. And when he was at home, he was usually visited by suspicious people who always talked in low voices. Father, who kept repeating:

"_There's a thing we still need to do - a thing that we are obliged to try to save the world. That's our duty as Peacecrafts."_

"…He said it would be safer there," Relena said vaguely. "It turned out to be a fortunate decision; we later found out with Heero that the zone of Washington DC had been destroyed."

"Speaking of which… where did you get this grim man from?"

Relena chuckled at the word. "We got him out of trouble."

"_We_?" Quatre asked, lifting his eyebrows.

"_Cheer up, babe."_

Her heart squeezed for the mention of another painful recollection. Another unjust victim.

"_You can always count on me, you know."_

Relena's memory of Duo was so intense that it seemed to her that a ghost of this long-haired American stood right next to her, resting his hands on his hips, sending her his feistily smile. Just like the day they set out on a journey…

"_Now pack this Wunderwaffe up! No need wasting time, it's a long way to Houston."_

"That's a long story," Relena started, realizing that it wasn't still the right time to tell Quatre the whole truth - about the mission and the vaccine she got with her. "I had a friend in the zone. His name was Duo. When my father died, he agreed to escape with me from the zone, and eventually get to Houston. I wanted to get there because I got a rumor that someone from my family survived and could be in Houston..."

"…where those laboratories are?"

Hearing these words, Relena gave Quatre a cautious look, but the blonde man only nonchalantly shrugged. "I also heard these rumors."

"Yeah…" Relena sighed and gazed away. She suspended her voice and smiled involuntarily. "And Heero... He just happened."

Quatre kept listening to her with a gentle smile on his face without rushing her.

"He got into trouble while smuggling and fled from the horde of infected. Duo saved him, and a moment later, I held him at gunpoint." They both chuckled. "Duo asked him to help us get out of the city. Unfortunately, Duo died while escaping... but Heero agreed to accompany me on my journey."

"I suppose that by making this decision and leaving with you, he went for broke," Quatre noticed. "There's probably nothing to come back to as a smuggler in the zone. You must have been convincing," saying this, he winked at her.

Relena smiled, then chuckled softly.

"Shut up. You'd better tell me about yourself, smarter."

Quatre leaned against the railing and brushed his blonde bangs away from his eyes.

"…I left Washington DC after Iria's death. I wanted to break out, forget... every street, every corner reminded me of her and the rest of my family… Of everything I lost. I couldn't take it anymore."

Relena looked down. She remembered Quatre's sister, Iria. A delicate, tall, dark blonde with always cheerful eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I'm over this already," Quatre shook his head, then fell silent for a brief moment. "The way south seemed to be a natural way. I met Trowa not far from here. He wandered alone, and I decided to offer him my company; that time, I already led a group of few people. You know, I always thought that together is the merrier. But Trowa wasn't an outgoing type at all…"

"…Just like Heero," Relena smiled, then searched Quatre's face, tilting her head. "And how was Evergreen born?"

Quatre chuckled. "Evergreen just happened. We found this old power plant and planned to restart it. At first, there was only a handful of us, but later more and more new inhabitants came, for example, Catherine... Until the village has grown to its present size."

"You've managed to create something beautiful, Quatre. This place gives hope."

"It's your arrival that gives hope, Relena."

Relena shifted her curious gaze on Quatre while he continued.

"The world is a ship that's sinking, and Evergreen isn't a lifeboat or even a raft. It's just a lifebuoy that allows those few who catch it to stay afloat. I feel that _you_ are the one who can bring true salvation."

"Why do you think that?" Relena asked. "Just because I'm a Peacecraft?"

"It's much more than that," Quatre whispered, leaning conspicuously over to Relena. "I know you carry a heavy burden on your shoulders, Relena. I can only guess how hard and important it might be; it has to be - no one makes a decision to cross the whole country if not for a huge reason…"

Relena measured her friend with anxious eyes, looking for any sign of hostility, but Quatre reached out and squeezed her hand.

"I'm also aware, as your friend, that I would put you in great danger if I revealed even my suspicions of this reason," he smiled. "You don't need to worry about that, Relena. I want you to know that I understand you, and you have my full support. But I also want you to know that there is a place for you here."

"Quatre…" Relena sighed, squeezing his hand back.

"Please remember, Relena. Even if you fail to save the world," whispered Quatre, "here's the place where you can come back to."

Relena looked deeply into her friend's eyes.

"Quatre Raberba Winner," she began smiling broadly, "I didn't think you could bash these kinds of soppy declarations so easily!"

A blush flashed across Quatre's cheeks.

"Trowa would laugh at me..."

Relena continued to smile, though that moment, she realized that her childhood friend was connected to Trowa with a bond much more profound than friendship.

"This Heero… Do you really trust him?"

"With my life," Relena answered solemnly.

"Did you ever figure out… why he didn't kill you when you got bitten?" Quatre asked, hesitantly. "I mean… not only he didn't kill you; instead, he stayed with you, risking that you would attack him... One has to be unbelievably stupid… or brave to do that."

Relena turned away, gazing at the horizon again. In all her melancholy, she also felt Heero's presence, but it was _different_. It had to be…

"I've kept asking myself 'why' for weeks, Quatre," she whispered, closing her eyes. "I think I found out. What's more… I think that even Heero realized the reason only recently…"

x x x

_Heero POV_

_._

…_what did I tell you_?

Their situation turned hopeless and desperate so instantaneously that he hadn't even been able to say those words. Either way, he would have hardly found anyone to say it to, as his comrades were dropping like flies.

Hearing the infected onrushing on him, he turned abruptly and pushed the stinking body away with a strong kick before firing his shotgun. The monster was thrown back with a loud roar, while Heero reloaded and aimed at the next advancing Clicker. One bullet wasn't enough; he had to fire at least two times. Straight to the head.

In the chaos that surrounded him, he noticed more and more of his companions who desperately needed help. They were tired of traveling and fighting in the heat and now helplessly surprised by a relatively small group of infected, that holed up only a few blocks away…

Heero kept fighting as if it was the only thing his body was programmed to do since the day he was born. As if he could do nothing else, as if stopping would kill him; he was a machine. His senses got enhanced, his breathing was fast but steady, he repeatedly heard in his ears the drums of blood pulsating through his veins. His muscles spontaneously repeated memory patterns, every scrap of his body was fighting for survival… but not just trying to save himself.

"Leave it, run!" he kept shouting, running from one to another of his companions, ripping them out of the embrace of death.

Then he eventually made a mistake. He didn't notice a sudden, sharp tug on his leg. Losing his balance, he fell forward, painfully hitting the ground.

The Clicker promptly started climbing on top of him, nailing him to the ground. Its slim fingers dug deep into his skin and flesh, tugging chaotically on his clothes. Rolling onto his back, Heero missed a kick, and then it took only a moment for the Clicker to reach up, right above his face.

Heero shot his arms up and blocked the attack, suspending the furious Clicker above him. The Clicker was only a few inches away from his face, frantically clenching his jaw and screaming deafeningly. Heero narrowed his eyes with exertion, feeling the monster's hot, smelly, almost sticky breath on his face. The living corpse's body under his fingers was ice-cold, his fingers kept sliding on the surface of the monster's flabby, rotting skin. The inside of its black mouth dripped with the blood of previous victims, and the protruding sharp teeth clenched in the air with a deaf clash closer and closer to his neck.

"Fu…." Heero grunted under his breath. _Just how many times already had I been this close…?_

The Clicker started to hit his skull with claws and rubbed at him with all its weight. Heero felt the muscles of his arms faint when the monster mounted him, pressing his chest to the ground, almost taking his breath away. _How much longer can I hold it…?_

Heero's arms eventually bent at the elbows under the beast's pressure, and the faceless head with teeth came even closer to his neck. The Clicker flung its claws against his body, and Heero felt a sharp pain when the monster ripped his shirt on his chest. Together with his skin.

He was holding the Clicker only by its throat, trying to keep it as far away as possible, but it was clear that he wouldn't last long like this.

He had the impression that someone called him by his name…

With the Clicker's weight piled up on top of his ripped chest, unable to catch a breath, his view was obscured by a black veil again and again. His body trembled with superhuman, prolonged effort, and pain. _It would be much easier to give up... no longer feel that fear… nor this pain..._

_This is not goodbye, remember?_

Then he saw the light through the closed eyelids and heard _her_ voice. _How...?_ For a fraction of a second, those beautiful, oceanic eyes stared at him, then sent him a sad look, and she turned away. He saw her silhouette walking away from him.

…further and further away.

_Wait for me_.

He felt that for a brief moment, his useless, exhausted body... _ceased to belong to him_.

_You can't die… you can't leave me here…_

"Get… the fuck… OFF!"

His dry throat shouted those words as his arms, guided by some inexplicable and sudden wave of strength, pushed the monster far back, away from him. As soon as he released his hands, he reached for his gun and fired a series of five, frantic shots, three of which hit the Clicker in the open jaw. The monster froze, then fell to the ground, uttering one last bloody neigh, stiffening in a deathly pose.

Finally catching his breath, Heero heard a deafening squeal in his head, as if after an explosion. Dazed, he greedily kept breathing air in his lungs, barely controlling the shivering of his muscles. The torn skin from the wound on his torso burned him painfully, and his chest suffered tremors as if his frantically throbbing heart was actually bouncing off his ribs like a ball. His body howled in pain and effort. He rolled onto his stomach, and opened his eyes, slowly noticing the contours of his surroundings.

About ten meters from him, Trowa fell on the ground, stunned by Runner. He limply tried to fight the hail of blows inflicted by the attacking monster, but it was in vain. He was clearly losing strength, fainting, and the Runner was only centimeters from his neck.

Heero only had a split second to aim. With one last effort, he held out his pistol and pulled the trigger.

His hand dropped the weapon immediately after firing. His brain was dark, his body finally gave up. A moment later, he got engulfed by darkness.

.

.

.

* * *

TBC

Hello, again!

I'm still out there, just have a load of real-life work to do. That's why you had to wait so long for the update. I'm sorry about that. To be honest, I'm also working on another story, also 1xR, only one-shot, but it's getting long already. Keep your eyes out for it!

This chapter is slightly different from the others, maybe a bit spirited; Heero and Relena are already two weeks apart. He is fighting for survival, she is waiting for him. Even for a moment, however, the bond between them and their hearts isn't broken. It is really a breath before the further development of events, which will happen soon.

Thank you so much for your reviews and PMs!

Stay safe,

~enelle


	34. Chapter 34 - The Separation Part 3

**Chapter 34 - The Separation Part 3**

_Three weeks later_

_Relena POV_

_._

"…Relena, sweetie, are you sure you're all right?"

Relena lifted her tired eyes as she heard Catherine's concerned voice. Ever since she woke up, she felt dizzy and nauseous. And whether because of prolonging summer heat or fatigue of her work, she felt worse with every minute.

"You look…"

"…overworked," Relena placed the tray with a skimpy breakfast on the table and sent her friend a weary smile. "There were recently a dozen cases of sunstroke in our hospital... people worked way too hard in this heat, so now we have our hands full…"

"Well, right," Catherine lifted her eyebrows with understanding. "Fortunately, we work in a building, so we don't have to be afraid of the sunstroke..."

Taking a seat, Relena forced herself to look down on her food and felt like she was going to throw up. She was ready to convince herself that she could do the whole day without any food at all.

"Hi, girls."

Sylvia walked up to them, sitting at the table with her tray with scrambled eggs on a slice of bread. Relena turned her head away sharply at the sight and smell of Sylvia's food, discreetly covering her mouth and sucking a deep breath, frantically trying to regain control of her insides.

"Heard the latest news?" Sylvia asked merrily.

"Nope," Catherine shook her head, "you're gonna let us die of curiosity, or will you just tell us?"

"Soon after our brave boys will return from the hunt, there will be a party in Evergreen."

"A party?" Catherine asked stupored, then she and Relena exchanged surprised looks. "Is it really a good idea to plan something like this even before they come back?"

"I get what you mean, but you know Quatre and his over-optimism," Sylvia sighed, then shifted her disdainful gaze at Relena. "It doesn't matter if your guy comes back or not, you'll surely have to think about a dress. The whole Evergreen already knows that you are rejecting the courtship of all the locals, I guess it can't take long…"

Relena snapped her chin up. Those words truly_ hurt_.

"Sylvia!" Catherine gasped, "How could you?!"

"What's shocking about that? You are sitting here with your arms folded anyway, this way you could at least get some fun," Sylvia didn't even glance at Catherine but eyed Relena with her unfriendly look, tearing her slice of bread into two pieces. "Perhaps you think you're better than everyone else living here? Maybe I would agree with that if you, the heiress of your pacifistic family, would have done anything to end this twenty-year-long nightmare…"

"Sylvia, stop!" Catherine growled at the girl, while Relena frowned back at her attacker, holding on to this hostile look.

"This epidemic took my loved ones, too," Relena whispered calmly. "I know this pain…"

"You don't have the _slightest_ idea about pain," Sylvia growled, raising a glass of water to her mouth and taking a short sip. As if she was trying to rinse the words that wouldn't go through her throat. "What's more… you have no idea what hundreds of people have been through to survive. Your only merit is to sit out all your life in the zone."

Relena sank into the back of the chair, letting out a breath. "What do you want from me? Have I ever exalted myself because I'm a Peacecraft?"

"This is not about what you did as Peacecraft, but what you didn't do."

"I don't get you," Relena said after a moment, truthfully.

"It's been over a month since you've been here. What is the purpose of it? Everyone has heard those rumors that somebody from your family holed up somewhere and is trying to create a vaccine… and you?" Sylvia asked angrily and provocatively. "What are you still doing here? Bored with saving the world?"

Relena frowned. She could almost feel the truth about a vial with vaccine hidden in her room weighing on her heart, helplessly struggling to come out, to stop this torrent of defamations that she couldn't fight back. She narrowed her eyes as the ground staggered again under her feet.

"I don't forget about it for a moment..."

"Bullshit," Sylvia growled. Her enraged eyes suddenly filled with tears. "People are dying for nothing just because those of your type are sitting idly by!"

"Sylvia, calm down-" Catherine tried to soothe the atmosphere, but then Relena abruptly got up and slapped Sylvia in the face.

The silence fell in the canteen, everyone stopped their activities and looked in their direction. Sylvia slowly touched her cheek as if in a shock. Relena lowered her hand, still narrowing her eyes from the other side of the table at Sylvia.

"I didn't choose my life," Relena stated calmly. "I struggle to survive in the same hell on earth like you. There is no day that I wouldn't wish this nightmare to end…"

Sylvia gave Relena a vengeful look. "…sitting here idly, with your arms folded?"

Relena couldn't answer Sylvia's question as she felt dizzy and threw up.

x x x

_Heero POV_

_._

"At ease, Heero."

Heero looked up and over his shoulder at those words, surprised.

"Your guard is over," continued Sam, a short and thin boy, as he stood next to Heero. He had a bandaged forehead and held a shotgun in his hand. "I'm here to relieve you. Go get some rest."

"Why now? I've only been here for three hours…"

"Don't ask me, I just follow my orders," Sam replied with a big smile buttoning his windbreaker and leaning his shotgun on the ground. "Trowa was looking for you, go to him with all your complains."

Heero shrugged, then got up and shaking Sam's hand he left his guarding spot.

He silently entered the thicket of the grove that covered their camp, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. He barely grimaced at the faint prick of pain that accompanied his movements - the torn wound on his chest that he got from the Clicker was already healing well. However, the injury kept tiresomely reminding him of that strange moment…

He still couldn't explain to himself what had actually happened to him when he had that large, stinking, consisting almost exclusively of voracious jaws, Clicker's body above him. He hadn't been this close to death for long; he hadn't been this close even when he had been shot in Atlanta. He had never felt so helpless and paralyzed against the raging violence that drew energy from him with every second... and yet, he somehow overcame it. But _how_? What had been that power that he had felt, that had been enough to finally beat the Clicker?

Then, for the first time in his life, right after he had shot the Infected that had attacked Trowa, Heero had lost consciousness on the battlefield. Fortunately, the other men from the group, whom he had managed to help earlier, had taken care of the remaining infected; if they hadn't, he would have been torn apart anyway.

Dry grass crackled under his feet as Heero mulled those events again in his thoughts, approaching their camp and the campfire in its center. The dancing light of the roaring fire bounced off the surrounding tall trees and let out a column of smoke high in the sky. Heero bypassed his sleeping comrades and walked up to the fire, sitting down opposite Trowa.

The green-eyed man was sitting hunched, tying a new bandage on his left forearm - miraculously the only wound he suffered from the last battle. "How are your wounds?" he asked, looking at Heero. "Anything you need?"

Heero shook his head silently, reaching out his hands towards the fire.

"Tomorrow, we'll be back to Evergreen," Trowa continued, as if to himself. "It's the end of the hunt."

Heero glanced at him knowingly, then clenched and relaxed his fists in front of the fire, still remaining silent. Along with the time spent in his company, Heero began to give Trowa a growing dose of positive feelings; certainly not acceptance, but understanding.

"…you saved my life," Trowa said suddenly, quietly. Heero didn't look up at his words, gazing at the dancing fire. "If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have come back alive. I had put us in this danger myself."

"Stop tormenting yourself with this," Heero said. "There's no turning back."

"I was responsible," Trowa continued, rubbing his eyes, then glanced at Heero through his long bangs. "And you predicted it... if I had listened to you, we would have probably all came back alive."

Heero held Trowa's gaze for a long moment, then sighed and allowed himself a crooked smile. "You're not the first and probably not the last person who regrets not having listened to me."

"Hey," Trowa measured the interlocutor first with surprise and then with amusement in his eyes. "I wanted to commit an act of self-criticism, but instead, I've put you in a state of self-admiration?"

Both men laughed under their breaths.

They sat in silence for a long moment, listening to the sound of the wind in the treetops above them and the sound of crackling wood, when Trowa suddenly broke the silence.

"I still didn't thank you. For saving my life back then."

Heero shrugged slightly. "You're welcome."

"I had been rude to you, treating you like garbage. I want to apologize for that, too," Trowa continued. "You had to endure terrible things in your life, but thanks to that, you learned to fight and survive. Now I know that your individuality is not self-exaltation or hostility. It's your way to survive."

Heero watched Trowa through the wall of dancing flames in silence, not sure if he should say anything at the moment. In particular, he had no intention of pulling on the subject of his past, whose only plus was that it was already the past.

"I wanted to ask you a question. You may not answer it," Trowa said. "Why didn't you refuse to take this whole hunt with us? It was another exposure for risk for you. And you don't need Evergreen itself. You are a free spirit, you'll survive everywhere."

Trowa suspended his voice for a moment. Heero delayed his answer. He looked down and watched the shadows cast by the burning fire. He felt his cheeks and knees get hot because of the warmth of the campfire.

"You did it for her? For Relena?"

_Relena_, he sighed to himself. A name he hadn't heard for so long, but which resounded silently in his soul every second since he had last seen her. The most beautiful name in the world.

And the only good thing in his life.

It dawned on him then. He realized what was that he saw when he was lying on the ground under Clicker. It was clear that those eyes, that voice...

Although no other word came out of his mouth for long minutes, Trowa eventually smiled knowingly. "I thought so," he whispered. "They say that sometimes, silence speaks louder than words..."

x x x

_Relena_ _POV_

_._

"Sally, please!" Relena moaned as she lifted herself on her arms from the mattress. "Keeping me in bed only because of puking!?"

"I'm in charge here," Sally replied as she opened the window, letting fresh, rainy air into the hospital room. "I have limited options for diagnosing here. And you don't realize, the symptom of how many different diseases is vomiting… beginning from stroke ending with duodenum cancer."

Relena snorted with impatience at those words and collapsed on her pillow. "For god's sake, you've gone crazy..."

"You've known me long enough that you should know that I won't yield."

"I'm all right..."

Sally stood in front of the grumpy patient and rested her hands on her hips in a dominating pose. "You vomited twice in the last 12 hours. And you are as pale as a wall."

"I feel fine!" Relena sighed. "I can't stand any minute more in bed. Let me work. I don't want to be so useless…"

"I don't blame you," Sally said patiently.

Relena looked down at those words. "_You_ may not. But others..."

Sally gazed at Relena for a moment, then moved a low chair to her bed, sat down, and shifted closer to the girl.

"What happened? Is it because of what Silvia was saying?"

Relena looked down without saying anything. Sally reached out and took Relena by the hand. "When one loses everything they care about, one sometimes turns bitter and sad. One suffers the mourning this way. Sylvia has always been this way. Don't blame yourself. You're not the cause."

After a moment, Relena looked at her friend and smiled mischievously. "All right, Sally, will you let me get up now?"

"No," Sally said and stood. "But if you sleep through all night and nothing happens, you will return to work tomorrow. It's raining now, get some sleep while it's fresh and crisp."

Saying this, she left the room. Relena sighed loudly, falling down on her pillows. She was the only patient lying in their hospital, as all little children have already recovered, and the cooler weather helped the persons with sunstroke. She folded her arms and looked at the ceiling.

Raindrops were monotonously booming on the roof, intermittent by the roar of thunder somewhere in the distance. One of the first long-awaited summer storms was just reaching the sky above Evergreen, carrying fresh air swollen from the metallic smell of lightning. The rain increased with every second, and the dried earth absorbed water with a sigh of relief.

Falling asleep, Relena got awakened by a distinct noise breaking through the sound of the rain. Interested, she sat on the bed and looked out the window, where she noticed more and more Evergreen residents, shouting:

"They're back! The hunt is over!"

Her heart thumped at the news.

Relena immediately threw away the quilt and got out of the bed, then ran as she stood out of the room, then out of the building straight into the crowd and a wall of fiercely heavy rain. She joined the Evergreen residents, who ran as fast as they could from all parts of the settlement.

"Relena!" she heard Catherine's voice from behind, and soon her friend appeared next to her. She was slightly breathless, raindrops kept running down her cheeks. "The boys are back! They're opening the gate, hurry!"

Saying this, Catherine caught Relena's hand, and they both ran towards the main gate.

When they ran into the square, they heard that the gate had already been opened. The rain grew more robust, increasingly tempestuous, blurring the outlines of their surroundings. The rain was so heavy that it was hard to see anything at a distance of several meters.

At some moment, Catherine released Relena's hand, and they split in the crowd. Relena kept running in the ankle-deep, slick mud. The rain was floating over her body as if she had been standing under the waterfall. She was already soaked to the skin; plus, she ran from the hospital so quickly that she didn't even put on her shoes.

Suddenly the crowd around her moved as if people started heading quickly forward; more and more people kept running right next to her. Relena started walking, squeezed, looking frantically around. Time after time, she brushed wet hair that fell into her eyes.

"Heero!" she called him, but her voice was too weak to break through the noise of the crowd.

The crowd eased around her; people started falling into each other embrace. Men abandoned their horses, women cried. Everybody laughed, kissed, hugged. Everything in the drowning downpour's noise. Finding their loved ones, smaller groups of people traveled in all directions, seeking protection from the rain.

"Heero!" Relena called him again.

Nobody answered her. Relena felt a chocking tightness in her chest as if she was drowning in icy water. "Heero! Ah-!"

A tall man accidentally ran into her, almost knocking her off her feet into the mud. Mumbling rude 'sorry,' he moved on, while Relena stood still on shaky legs, catching her breath and rubbing her shoulder in pain. The rain curtain almost obscured her vision.

She slowly walked forward, looking into the eyes of every man she passed. In vain. He couldn't find him anywhere… She was slowly approaching the wall, there were fewer and fewer people around, and the rain only seemed to intensify.

She felt overwhelming cold. She wiped her eyes of the rain mixed with her tears, which she didn't even try to control…

"Heero!" she screamed again with all her might.

"Relena-"

She shot her eyes open, at the sound of a familiar voice... The rustle of the torrent of rain was so intense and loud that she wasn't sure if she hadn't actually misheard it…

"Relena…!"

…_no doubt this time_. She whipped her head around, and finally… noticed him.

He was standing less than five meters behind her, holding his horse by the bridle. Running in the rain, she must have run past him. A pair of familiar, captivating, beautiful Prussian-blue eyes gazed at her through the curtain of his brown bangs.

He called her name again. Relena covered her mouth with her hand and ran to him. He released the bridle, and Zero jumped away with relief and trotted toward the stable.

When she fell into his arms, his familiar warmth and masculine scent enveloped her, even though the rain. Relena clung to him, pressing her face to his chest and his soaked shirt, repeating his name with relief. Soon she felt Heero's hands cupping her face and tilting her head up, then crushing their lips together in a fierce kiss.

The passion of his kiss almost turned rainwater on her skin into steam. Feeling the happiness and gratitude running through her, Relena cried softly against his lips and returned the kiss, cuddling up to him with her whole body. If she could, she would like to be absorbed by his embrace. Her body suffered tremors from the joyful realization that he was finally here, so close to her. Alive.

Relena didn't let him break the kiss even for a second when Heero bent down a bit and picked her up into his arms. She looped his neck and tangled her fingers in his damp hair as he carried her through the mud on the square a few meters further. He stopped only for a moment when they slipped out of the rain into the warehouse next to the gate - only to make sure he would enter through the narrow entrance safely with her in his arms.

When he placed her on her feet on the floor, she immediately wrapped her arms around his torso, clenching her fists on the fabric of his wet clothes.

"…where are your shoes?" she suddenly heard him asking, while he kissed the skin on the side of her neck.

Relena chuckled under her breath and looked at him. "To hell with the shoes…" she whispered, then pulled him closer and kissed him again. She framed his face with her hands, then looped her arms behind his neck, pushing herself up on her tiptoes. Heero let a low grunt, and made a step backward, bracing with his back against the wooden wall, but returning the kiss with equal passion.

When they broke the contact, dragging air into their lungs, Heero let his warm hands slid down her arms and her sides. She felt that her wet, thin summer clothing clung to her body, enhancing her shapes, becoming almost transparent from water. That was when Relena felt cold and shivered. Noticing that, without saying a single word, Heero ripped the dry guard cloak off the hanger and covered her with it.

"Why you're so pale…?" Heero murmured, apparently concerned, cupping her face with his hand, brushing soaked, golden locks away from her cheeks. Relena blinked and pushed his hand away when he tried to touch her forehead.

"Is this really you? You've never been so talkative...," Relena gasped with a chuckle, sinking again in his embrace. "Oh God, how much I missed you…"

"Relena…"

Suddenly, someone slammed the door to the room they were in, and they both looked up.

In the other corner of the room, which plunged into the shadows, they saw the silhouettes of two people who clung to each other in a similar, loving, passionate embrace. A stream of rain followed them on the floor.

They recognized these lovers…

"…Let's go," Relena heard Heero's soft whisper, as he tugged the coat on her shoulders, then pulled her close, and they tiptoed toward the back door from the warehouse. "Let's leave them."

x

"Wait, not everyone at once! Everyone will be helped!"

The hospital, so peaceful and quiet only a few minutes ago, now seemed busier and noisier than the Zone. The men that had come back from hunting occupied almost every room, exposing their wounds of varying severity, expecting help, and talking loudly and enthusiastically between themselves and their families. And in all this turmoil, there was one and only, always controlled Sally Po. "Those who don't need medical help _immediately_, please leave the room! I repeat, everyone who needs it will be helped, but in order!"

When Heero let her forward and closed the hospital door behind them, Relena turned around to him, still holding his hand.

"Are you hurt?"

He gazed down on her, water running down his face, sticking his chocolate brown hair to his forehead. Raindrops even stopped on his eyelashes, reflecting on the surface of his beautiful blue eyes. "I'm all right. You should go and help Sally."

"No, Heero," Relena whispered, grabbing him by his jacket. "Don't lie to me only to make a hero of yourself. I can't take care of others first if you-"

"I'm fine," he interrupted her with a calm but controlled voice, the cold blue of his eyes focused on her. He frowned at her as if he was thinking through something. "…You already saved me before."

She shot him a puzzled look. "…What?"

"Relena, thank God!" Sally called to her, as she crossed the corridor, clasping bandages and surgical instruments in her hands. "You feel better now? I need your help."

"Yes…" Relena sighed, looking over her shoulder, then gazed up at Heero again. "Heero, what did you-"

"Nothing," he stroked her cheek, his eyes suddenly full of concern. An impenetrable emotion that flickered in his eyes disappeared very quickly. "What's she talking about? Are you sick?"

"No…" Relena shook her head. "No, Heero, I'm all right!"

They both frowned at each other for a moment, and Relena realized that each of them wanted to say something, but it wasn't the right time and place. These unspoken words restrained them with invisible bonds, and it was clear that although they hadn't seen each other for more than three weeks, their first calm conversation would have to wait a little bit more.

Heero finally broke the awkward silence. "Please, go. You're needed here. Don't worry about me."

He pushed her slightly away from him, but Relena didn't let go of his hands. "Stay here," she begged him, "you've just returned…"

"Relena, could you please, come here?" came again Sally's impatient voice from the inside of the hospital.

This time Relena didn't turn around, but locked eyes with Heero. "Please, don't go."

He looked at her with his stern gaze, which gradually softened until his shoulders dropped. "I'll just leave my backpack, okay?"

Relena smiled in reply and pressed another kiss on his lips. "Okay," she whispered against his mouth, "I won't let you go anywhere alone anymore."

.

* * *

TBC

Hello everyone!

Thank you for all your comments and messages. As usual, I apologize for the prolonged lack of updates! I am happy to announce that the separation period is over, and Heero and Relena are together again…

Some of you may ask… did I forget about Dorothy and her Fireflies? One thing I can answer to that - of course, I didn't; everything is according to plan! And… who are those mysterious lovers? If you're not sure, you've got to wait a little bit longer to find out.

A little teaser... the next chapter will be called "The Party Night." And it will be long.

Stay safe,

~enelle


	35. Chapter 35 - The Party Night x

**Chapter 35 - The Party Night**

_Two days later_

_August_

_Relena POV_

_._

"You vomited again?"

Sitting on the very edge of the hospital bed, Relena lowered her head, glaring at Sally. "This morning," she murmured. "I think it was something I ate..."

Sally frowned at her with a suspicious look, while Relena shrugged nonchalantly. "Do you still have those drops for a stomach ache? They've served me very well last time."

"Sure…" Sally muttered under her breath, then walked out of the room.

Relena leaned against the bed frame and looked out the window. Evergreen was buzzing again, everyone was preparing for the evening party. Garlands were hanged over the main square, tables were set up, even a space for the band was designated. Though some of the inhabitants rose some disagreement about whether such a party should be held when not everyone came back from the hunt, the truth was that Evergreen never had a 100-percent _successful_ hunt. And at the same time, the fact was that there were relatively few death victims this time.

In the distance, at the far end of the square, Relena noticed Catherine hanging a garland with Trowa's and Sylvia's help. After a moment, she also saw Heero; he had just finished setting the tables together with Quatre, and they both stood in the shade, talking unhurriedly. Relena smiled at the sight of him, feeling a pleasant tingling in her heart.

"I'm happy for you that he's back," Relena suddenly heard Sally's voice as she came back to the room with a small bottle. "You were so worried about him."

Relena sighed, facing Sally with a relieved smile. "It doesn't matter now. He's safe now."

Sally smiled back, but there was something about that smile that made Relena anxious. "Sally, what's the matter?"

The woman didn't answer immediately, shaking the bottle gently in her hands and eyeing Relena. "Relena… When did you have your last period?"

Relena lifted her eyebrows in surprise and sighed, thinking about the question. "Oh... well..." she wondered aloud, counting the days in her mind.

In recurring everyday life, days and weeks almost seemed to merge into one. Her heart trembled at the memory of the night she had crept inside Heero's bed… The next day he had been gone to the hunting... from which he had returned after three weeks...

"It will be about... five weeks..." she eventually muttered, then lifted her eyes at Sally…

…and her heart skipped a beat as she realized what it meant.

"Relax. It's still very early," Sally interrupted her, "but unfortunately, I don't have any ways of diagnosing it. It may be nothing, but if it doesn't show up in another two weeks, it will definitely be a sign."

Relena pressed a hand to her chest, taking a deep breath, trying to absorb what Sally had just said and trying to understand what she was feeling right now. She felt surprised, excited, but also anxious… With every second, for unclear reasons, the tension in her grew stronger…

"I see…" she whispered absent-mindedly.

_Pregnant_… Unable to pacify her pounding heart, but trying to gather her galloping thoughts, Relena rose from the bed and walked up to the window, looking out. Her heart thumped again at the sight of Heero. He stood in the same place as before, this time talking to both Quatre and Trowa, but then he suddenly interrupted the conversation, looked around, and walked away, disappearing from her sight.

That moment, as if a flash of lightning hit her, Relena regained her mental clarity and whipped her head at Sally.

"Sally… nobody can find out about _this_," she whispered with a confident voice, giving her friend a wary look. "_He_ can't find out about this."

Sally blinked, surprised, then sighed, as if realizing that she had touched a complicated matter. "Relena, calm down, it's still just my presumption…"

"No… I know… I feel that's _it_," Relena muttered silently, her eyes downcast, then she clutched Sally's hands tightly. "Sally, you're a doctor and my friend. I need you to promise me that you won't tell anyone about this."

Sally looked back at her with distinct suspicion, clearly unsure if she should do so.

"I won't," she eventually said with a gentle voice, caressing the top of Relena's hand with her thumb, "unless you plan to do something stupid…"

"No…" Relena shook her head, desperately thinking of a proper excuse, "I just… I want to tell him by myself… only when the proper moment comes."

After a moment, Sally smiled at her warmheartedly and nodded her head. "All right then."

Relieved, Relena let out a nervous breath and smiled back at her friend, squeezing her hands. "Thank you…" she said. "I guess… there's no use for your drops right now."

"That's even for the best. Now you go get some rest, you're having a party in the evening," Sally said, holding Relena. "If you're happy, I'm happy for you too, my friend."

Relena returned the hug and then walked out of the room, still with a desperately sustained, fake smile on her face, trying to mask her own unrest as much as possible.

Leaving the hospital building, although she knew it was impossible, she had a strange reflection as if _two_ hearts were already beating inside her simultaneously.

She was _sure_ she was pregnant. She allowed this possibility right from the beginning, and it wouldn't have been such a surprise. After all, no contraception longer existed, no one produced condoms nor hormones. Indeed, this news wouldn't have caused her such stress if she had received it over three weeks ago, but since the hunt... since Heero had thrown himself in danger so readily, without caring about his life, nothing was the same anymore.

Stopping in the doorway to the hospital, Relena leaned against the doorframe and gazed at the Evergreen inhabitants, this clamorous fuss, and the wall behind the main square. The afternoon sun was slowly hiding behind the trees, soon it would have disappeared behind the high wall. Looking at the tall wall, Relena realized that she hadn't seen the sun hiding behind the clean, unbroken horizon line for such a long time already...

Evergreen, though it was undeniably safe heaven, was also a prison. Another quarantine zone that was hidden behind the high, separating walls. But Relena had the key that could tear down all the walls built in this world and close all quarantine zones. The vaccine. A real rescue, just like Quatre had said.

_Maybe Sylvia was right_… _that I was only sitting on my butt and doing nothing?_

Still immersed in her thoughts, Relena suddenly noticed Heero as he was approaching her. She felt confused at the sight of him. She wanted to run to him, tell him about... Oh, _how_ _much_ she wanted to tell him... However, she already realized that this way, she would sign the death sentence… on _him_.

If she told him, or if he found out by himself… he would have left Evergreen in one night. He would have left her in a safe place and gone to Houston himself, taking the vaccine with him, putting everything on one card, again. Including his life. To be sure that she and his unborn child would be safe. And then… she wouldn't have been able to stop him.

Relena already decided that she would never let that happen. And that meant that their time in Evergreen was coming to an end. She already recovered, anyway. If she wanted to be with him, they needed to leave soon. To reach Houston… before it would start to _show_.

"How are you feeling? What did Sally say?" Heero asked with concern as he approached her.

She looked away from him, fearing that his piercing blue eyes would quickly read the truth in her look. She felt terrible about her secret; she realized that apart from the fact that she wanted him to know, he _had a right_ to know... Her voice stuck in her throat almost at the last second.

However, that moment, Relena didn't realize yet how heavy that burden of hers would be. She looked up at him and smiled at her best as she could, with her heart painfully clenched inside her chest.

"She said that I should take my drops and get ready for the party."

It was as simple as that. He kept his promise and came back to her.

Now it was her turn to fulfill _her_ promise.

x

_Heero POV_

_._

The evening filled the air in Evergreen with a pleasant chill, bringing relief and refreshment after the all day long scorching heat. Right after the sun had set, the electric turbines were launched, and garlands of chains that once had hung on Christmas trees lit up over the main square. It was surprising that they still shone after so many years.

The sandy surface of the main square dried after a downpour from two days ago, and Evergreen residents were slowly gathering. Everyone was apparently more festively dressed, some of the girls and women were wearing dresses, boys and men changed everyday work shirts to fresher ones. The band was modest: two girls played the violin and the tambourine, while the boy played the guitar. The musicians haven't started playing yet, gathering in the corner of the square, tuning the instruments.

In the olden days, a sea of alcohol poured out during such events. Now, alcohol could save lives when used to decontaminate wounds and cuts. It was too valuable. So, the tables were set with water with various types of fruit syrup and very weak, almost gasless, home-made wheat beer. But nobody complained. Probably because only a small part of this gathering remembered drinking during "the old days" parties.

When the crowd in the square thickened and everyone had their own glass, the band spontaneously began to play. Initially, people were too ashamed to start dancing and found an excuse not to go to have fun. Eventually, however, the first few brave couples began dancing and were soon followed by the others.

The festive mood passed onto Heero only partly; he wore a borrowed black T-shirt and dark jeans, but, remaining true to his habits, he didn't even try to handle his messed hair. He took a seat at one of the furthest tables, squeezing a glass of beer in his hand and watched the dancing people.

He quickly noticed that there was something sublime and joyful about this night, something that distinguished it from many similar events that Heero had known so far and which inevitably had taken place in the Zone. After all, even in the post-apocalyptic world, people wanted to forget about the hopelessness surrounding them at least for a moment, indulge themselves in the vortex of dance, enjoy the closeness of others. Until now, Heero always kept himself away from such parties; he never intended to get involved. Partly because it was utterly extraneous to him, and somewhat because he just didn't feel the need to detach himself from reality.

From his point of view, this kind of party wouldn't bring any measurable profit; when they ended, the world was still an endless nightmare, and then, the return to this reality was as much harder as a more pleasant was the evening. The only tangible benefit he could think of was a chance of meeting women for a few, skipping moments of carnal pleasure, nothing more. Women who were looking for the same thing as him: a moment of relief, forgetfulness, regaining control over one's life. However, with none of them, he had felt as _alive_ as he did when he was with _her.._.

"Enjoying the party?"

Quatre took a seat at the same table, next to Heero, placing his glass on the table. He was wearing a white shirt and dark gray pants. "It came out great, right? Last year the turbines wouldn't have carried them. Now we replaced all the engineering. Maybe in a few years, such lights will shine in Evergreen every night..."

Heero glanced briefly at Quatre, but said nothing, raising a glass to his lips and drinking some of the liquid, watching the cheerful crowd in the square.

The band played something that resembled Irish folk music, with the guiding, screeching sound of a violin and a clearly outlined rhythm. Couples in the square danced much more vigorously and energetically.

"Where's Relena?" Quatre asked.

"Still dressing up."

Quatre smiled, then gazed at the crowd. "I'm grateful for what you did for Trowa during the hunt," he hung his voice for a moment, "he told me everything. He owes you his life."

Heero let his lips form a slight grimace at Quatre's words. "In some ways, I paid off my debt."

Quatre raised his eyebrows, and Heero looked back at him. "He brought water when Relena was almost dying of thirst," Heero explained.

Quatre made a surprised face, then laughed loudly. "Remind me, didn't you accidentally threaten to kill him a few moments later, did you?"

"He almost shot us himself," Heero noticed. "I don't take my words back."

"Sure, right. We can say that this is already history," Quatre chuckled. "Either way... I want to thank you, Heero. With all my heart. I don't know if I would be able to continue living if he..."

The blonde man hung his voice for a moment, and Heero measured him with a cautious gaze. "No problem," he muttered, taking a sip from his glass.

Quatre looked up to see someone in the crowd, and Heero followed his gaze. They both noticed Trowa approaching through the square, and the moment Catherine reached him. She was wearing a short denim skirt and a white blouse with thin straps; her fluffy hazelnut hair falling over her shoulders. Trowa went for a white T-shirt and black jeans. The couple started talking unhurriedly, Catherine held Trowa's hand and laughed merrily.

Heero watched them blankly, but after a moment, Quatre's loud and somewhat sad sigh ripped him out of his thoughts.

"She doesn't know anything," Quatre whispered. "Or, perhaps she's suspecting something but keeps it to herself. The whole Evergreen doesn't know... officially."

Heero looked at Quatre surreptitiously. Until that moment, he was convinced that Quatre and Trowa hadn't realized that they had been busted in the warehouse a few days ago, during the rain that accompanied the end of the hunt. He thought of several questions that he could ask, but remained silent, realizing that it was any of his business. But then Quatre continued as if he were reading his thoughts.

"As for now, we don't plan to reveal it. I doubt if it would be of any use now. And I'm anxious… about the other's reaction. There's a possibility that people wouldn't want their leader to be gay… and I don't want to ruin Evergreen's peace."

In the distance, somewhere between the couples on the dancefloor, Trowa was spontaneously dancing with Catherine. The girl gripped his hands firmly and pulled him into the dancing, amused crowd. Heero heard Quatre making another sad sigh.

"I can live with this. It only hurts in times like these. When I realize that we can't hold hands in clear daylight," Quatre said, his voice silent and shallow, "like you and Relena."

Heero snorted silently at the blonde man's words. "Quatre, if you're looking for comfort or advice, then I'm certainly your worst choice."

Quatre laughed and shrugged. "Sincerely, I don't want to pour out my heart tonight. Talking about it to someone other than Trowa is already a relief to me. You didn't even realize you were helping me just by listening to me."

Heero sent him an indifferent glance. "You're welcome."

"I mean it. Thank you, Heero Yuy," Quatre raised his glass, "for saving Trowa and coming back alive to Evergreen. Here's to you."

Heero hesitated for a moment, then let out a sigh. He raised his glass. "I can only give you one piece of advice that I got many years ago."

"And that advice is?"

Heero looked Quatre in the eyes and then tapped his glass on the blonde man's one. "Follow your emotions. That's the only way to live a good life."

Quatre thought for a moment, then grinned, still raising his glass up. "_Amen_ to that. That said, you're good at cheering others up."

They both drank a handful of liquid, and soon they were joined by Trowa. The green-eyed man walked out of the merry, dancing crowd and approached their table with his own drink. He took a seat at the other side of the table, his back to the dancefloor.

"The hunt isn't needed at least for a year," Trowa said to Heero. "I guess the natural choice for you is to be our sniper at the walls."

Heero measured Trowa with an indifferent glance but with a mischievous smirk forming on his lips. "You're sure you want me to do this? I could accidentally mistake you for an intruder."

Trowa laughed out loud at those words, while Quatre looked somewhat concerned. "Cute," Trowa said, sipping his drink. "I began to like your sense of humor. Quatre, did you already decided what to do about him?"

But suddenly their voices faded out and Heero didn't hear them anymore, as he noticed the only person he had been waiting for this evening.

Relena's filigree silhouette flashed in the crowd for a short moment, then for longer. She stood with Catherine and talked about something lively, holding both hands, then began to dance together.

With her long, golden hair combed, wearing a loose, pale blue summer dress that ended above her knee, she looked... different.

During all these months, when they were on the trail, fighting for survival not only with hunters, infected, and Fireflies but also with heat and a chronic deficit of food or water, there was no time or opportunity for her to behave like the young woman she was. Such a dress would be a much bigger problem than pants - it was easier to run wearing pants, they provided warmth at night, one could move freely with them on. It was the very first time Heero saw her dressed so femininely. He realized that he couldn't take his eyes off her.

Meanwhile, Relena held Catherine's hands tightly and spun around, squeaking frightfully. Heero's attentive eyes followed every move of Relena's knees just below the line of her dress. He loved her slender legs, her hips, but this time, though they were obscured by the delicate fabric of the dress, she seemed to him as appealing as ever. And she laughed so cheerfully and loudly that he could hear her even despite the bustle and sound of the music.

She was relaxed and joyful. Beautiful. She looked like if she had been transferred here from another universe. This several weeks' long longing for her closeness began to weigh him inexpressibly at that very moment.

"Doesn't she look happy?" Heero suddenly heard Quatre's voice, close to his ear. "I'm so glad she loved Evergreen."

Heero didn't know how to answer the blonde man, but he realized it too. Since they had come here, Relena flourished. She regained strength, found passion, made new friends. Plus, she was still 'the famous Relena Peacecraft,' and as soon as the song changed, every boy in Evergreen wanted to dance with her. More and more appeared next to her, willing to offer a dance. Relena kept accepting them with a polite but subdued smile, agreeing to dance a couple of short, lively dances. Heero didn't interrupt, sipping his beer and ceaselessly keeping his gaze glued to her, but feeling a tide of annoyance at the sight of each subsequent admirer…

Then, at a certain point, as she whipped her head, looking around the square, she locked her eyes with him. Her look lit up immediately, and his heart skipped a beat as she stopped dancing and dashed to his table as if nothing else mattered in the world.

"And here is our star!" Quatre chuckled merrily, welcoming Relena by raising his glass up. "You look phenomenal, Relena!"

Relena laughed out loud, making a quick pirouette just in front of them. Her loose dress flared up in the air, revealing her slender thighs even more. She radiated of carefree and girlish happiness. Unable to stop gazing at her, Heero unconsciously pursed his lips, then took another sip of beer, forcing himself to cast his eyes down.

Relena stopped on the other side of the table and leaned forward, leaning her elbows on the tabletop.

"So here you have hidden," she chuckled, concentrating her gaze at Heero, "at the very far end. I almost didn't notice you."

"Here we have the best view," Trowa teased, tapping his glass to Heero's.

Relena looked at Heero, smiling broadly at him. "Now that I've found you, maybe I can convince you to dance?"

Heero looked up at her from behind his bangs. He didn't say anything, already realizing solely by the look in her eyes that he was unable to resist her.

He hesitantly rose on his feet, and immediately felt Relena's hand tugging his and pulling him into the dancing crowd. He let her drag him between the other people, but when they were crossing the somewhat empty part of the square, Heero stopped abruptly and pulled Relena to himself.

"Hey," she chuckled with surprise as she spun around and stopped right in front of him, her lengthy hair whipping him on his shoulder. Heero gazed into her bright, cerulean eyes.

"I've never done it before," he explained.

Relena smiled at him again; she radiated with laughter; even her eyes were laughing. "It doesn't matter," she whispered, shrugging, without any hesitation in her gaze, "just hold me close."

The band started playing another song. A girl who had been playing on the violin stopped and stood between the other two players. Soon the sound of guitar ringed out with a piece of atmospheric music, and people in the square started forming couples. That seemed the first slow song of the evening.

Heero looked down at Relena and encircled her waist, pulling her closer. Relena's knee brushed his, and she giggled, her look escaping down. "Sorry," she whispered.

Her fingers gently curled around his hand, securing her balance. Her eyes were glistening with hundreds of lights that hanged above them. Hearing the song, still only instrumental, Heero glanced at the people around them. He tried to mimic them, and he let his body sway gently to the soft rhythm. He felt super awkward. Relena's arm encircled his torso, and she rested her head on his collarbone.

"That's nice," she whispered encouragingly, nuzzling her face to him, "move as _you_ wish and when _you_ wish. It's fine with me. Just keep me close."

Heero bowed his head, sensing Relena's delicate floral scent. Out of the corner of his eye, he kept looking at the pairs surrounding them, but each of them moved a little differently. Unable to decide who to imitate precisely, he eventually decided to listen to Relena.

He rested his chin on the top of her head and held her closer, gently rocking them from foot to foot, when the girl on the stage started singing.

_I wasn't looking for you._

_You came, quietly_

_fortuitously._

_You said you found me._

_You said you'll stay_

_here._

"That's a nice song," Relena murmured, keeping her head rested on this perfect spot on his collarbone.

Heero hummed in reply. He found it difficult to compare this girl's song to anything he had heard in his life. Her gentle voice reminded him of his mother's, as she had sung lullabies to him, although it was a distant memory, almost faded in his mind.

But the words of this song made him feel strange. Listening to them, he felt an unusual excitement, as if they sounded familiar…

"How are you feeling now?"

"Heavenly."

"I'm serious," Heero muttered in a sober tone.

"Me too," Relena chuckled and squinted her eyes. "I've never felt so good."

Heero sighed heavily, then whispered softly in her ear: "…you're sure you're not pregnant?"

She didn't answer immediately. For a split second, Heero felt her fingers tremble slightly, but then she snuggled closer into him.

"No, Heero. I'm not pregnant."

"Yhm," he mumbled his short response. He wasn't sure how he actually felt about this news.

Was he relieved? Disappointed? The thought of pregnancy had been lingering on his mind ever since he first learned that Relena had been vomiting. But even then, he was confused about his feelings about the possible pregnancy. He had been chasing this thought away so far, but now, when she denied it, images swept through Heero's mind that he couldn't control nor understand. As if he experienced a feeling of yearning, a longing for somebody… who still didn't exist.

_I have you_

_\- it is enough for me._

_Now I can be lost,_

_now the world doesn't matter to me._

"…Heero."

"Yeah?" he said, pulled out of his thoughts.

Relena tilted her head up and looked at him with her glistening eyes. "Back in the hospital… You said that I had saved you before. What did you mean?"

Heero shook his head, tossing his unruly bangs off his eyesight. "I meant exactly what I said. You really did."

"Tell me about it."

"No," Heero cut her short.

"Why not?" Relena pouted playfully, like a little girl. "Don't be afraid, I won't go and ruin your reputation by telling everyone that this invincible and brave Heero Yuy needed help once in a lifetime."

Her lips formed in one of her most beautiful, gentle smiles. Heero looked down at her. "Somehow… I don't trust you."

Relena laughed at his joke, so carelessly and merrily, that Heero couldn't help but smile back at her. His whole world concentrated on her in his arms, on a warm night, and the words of the song that he had an impression he knew…

Then he felt her right hand that was resting on his back slowly slide down to his waist.

"I never doubted that you would come back," she whispered, looking straight into his eyes. "I just felt it. You promised me this. You wouldn't have broken a promise."

_Let this dark night never end._

_Let it darken, let them take away the moon,_

_and hold back the morning._

_Let this night never end._

_Never end…_

Promises.

He had lived from day to day, from second to second, from breath to breath. His life had mattered only as long as he still held it. Life was fleeting and doomed to end, like a woozy firefly that kept flying around the lightbulb until getting burned to death. That's why he would only struggle to _survive_ in this world. Not to _live_.

Until she had appeared.

He suddenly wanted to live. Fight for every breath, for every day… not to _delay death_, but to cherish life, share moments with her.

She tangled his life with a chain of promises.

Heero brought her hand in his grasp to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss on top of it, his eyes never leaving hers.

"We could stay here, Relena," he whispered, his breath feathering the top of Relena's delicate hand, then rested it over his collarbone. "Just say that you want it."

_You are here,_

_in my arms._

_That's all I'm sure of,_

_that's all that matters._

Hearing his confession, Relena bowed her head. Heero noticed the hesitation in her eyes, the same he felt in his heart.

He had thought about it for a long time. Even before he had set off for the hunt, he had imagined her living in Evergreen. Alone - in case if he hadn't returned. However, even drawing that worst-case scenario, he had felt peace in his heart - because reason repeatedly had been telling him that he's leaving her in the best, safest place he had ever known.

Now that he had returned, Evergreen seemed closer to his heart as well. The place that he had seen for the second time still in an unchanged shape after a long absence... he clearly associated it with a safe haven. Home.

But then, the look in Relena's eyes sharpened.

"I can't say that, Heero," she shook her head. "Have you forgotten?"

Of course, he didn't. Let the earth under him apart and devour him if he forgot the promise she made to him in the morning after their first night together. That they'll live to see a world that had been taken away from them…

As she snuggled back into him, into the rigid form of his embrace, he felt his body temperature rise rapidly. _She was too far away_.

He wanted her _closer_. Brushing a golden strand of her hair away from her face, he brought his lips to her ear and whispered in a low voice:

"Please, follow me."

_Keep me close,_

_till the last breath of air roars in my body,_

_and my last day on this earth still didn't come._

He pulled away, and Relena gave him a surprised look, but he said nothing more, sending her a meaningful look. He gave her hands a short squeeze, then released them and quickly began to thread his way through the calmly dancing couples.

When he left the lighted square, he looked back and, seeing Relena follow him about a dozen steps behind, turned into one of the dark streets of Evergreen, stepping out of the beam of light from the main square. As he passed the last people standing in the nearby streets, he quickened his pace, never losing sight of her and making sure nobody was following them. When the narrow streets around them were only lit by the moonlight, he heard Relena also speeding up, almost running after him.

As soon as Heero turned into the dark corner, enlightened only by the faint light of the moon, Relena reached him. There he stopped, hitting his back against the wooden wall, and there she jumped into his embrace again. Their lips found each other, meeting in a desperate, fierce dance. Heero let his hands glide over her slender body and sank his hands into her silky hair, cradling the back of her neck, while Relena roamed her hands down his torso and started fumbling with his belt.

_She was still too far away_.

_Let this dark night never end._

_Let it darken, let them take away the moon,_

_and hold back the morning._

_Let this night never end._

_Never end…_

Snippets of the romantic song were still reaching their dark corner as he gathered her in his embrace up and turning them around pressed her against the wall. Relena let out a surprised gasp, then started unbuttoning his pants, while he bent his head and kissed the sensitive and smooth skin on her breasts, yanking down the cleavage of her dress.

_She was still_…

He slipped his hands under the hem of her dress and then grasped the backs of her thighs, quickly hoisting her up. Relena wound her legs around his waist and his arms around his neck, pulling him even closer and steadying herself against him. Her spine arched against the wall; her body felt so hot to touch, like red-hot iron.

The moment he joined their bodies into one, Relena let out the sweetest, the most sensual moan and buried her face to the side of his neck.

_**And please, never stop telling me,**_

_**that in this life of coincidences,**_

_**you're the only thing**_

_**planned**_

_**solely for me.**_

"Relena…" Heero mumbled semi-consciously, utterly intoxicated by her warmth, closeness, and smell, hiding his face in the crook of her neck, but holding her ever so steadily.

She answered him with a short gasp, and he felt her rapid heartbeat pounding against him. He started moving inside her, with each move releasing a breathless moan from her. Her nails dug into the skin of his back, and Heero buried his fingers in the soft flesh of her thighs, deliberately deeper, at the thought that anybody else could have touched her, even look at her while he was gone…

His own breath ragged, he nibbled with his teeth at the skin of her neck, and she tilted her head back in pleasure, raking her hands in his thick hair as he took her against the wall.

_**Keep me close,**_

_**if the morning can take you away from me,**_

_**then I don't want to wake up.**_

He missed her warmth for too long - soon, _too soon_, the flow of ecstasy through his body almost paralyzed him, while Relena bit into his shoulder and tightened around him, panting silently. Up to this point, he was utterly unaware of the yearning he had felt for her for the last over three weeks, and this realization made him feel almost embarrassed.

Feeling sweat dripping down his temples, he slowly and gently lowered her to the ground, sensing a slight tremor in her thighs under his hands, and stared at the ocean depth of her half-closed eyes. Relena stood on unsteady legs, catching her breath, and cupped his face lovingly. He noticed that her eyes were clouded, tiny drops of tears lingered on her eyelashes…

"Relena-" he gasped, feeling his heart sink, but she placed her finger over his lips, silencing him.

"Heero… I want to go back on the road," Relena whispered, her voice slightly trembling. "With you."

_Let this dark night never end._

_Let it darken, let them take away the moon,_

_and hold back the morning._

_Let this night never end._

_Never end…_

Heero frowned at her, then nodded his head knowingly. He wasn't going to oppose her in any way; her eyes told him that she had already made up her mind, and the only thing he could do was to oblige.

When she nuzzled up to him, he returned the hug, clinging to her as if she could have evaporated from his embrace.

"I'll _never_ leave you alone again," he whispered, pressing his cheek to the side of her neck.

"_I know_," she whispered back.

…

What he didn't know was what Relena actually meant by those words: that from this moment on, she was never alone. That she carried inside her a new life, a tiny being with a piece of Heero's heart.

.

* * *

TBC

Hello, my dear readers!

Thank you for all your reviews and comments!

I hope that the chapter brought you a lot of joy and emotions. Soon we will be back on the trail with Heero and Relena, full of dangers, but on which they will be together.

BTW, the lyrics of the song are by me. I really enjoyed writing this chapter, although I started composing the lyrics from the very beginning of writing this fanfic.

Today the note is short because I am in a hurry. Please write a review about how you enjoyed it!

Stay safe,

~enelle89


	36. Chapter 36 - The Farewell

**Chapter 36 - The Farewell**

_Heero POV_

_The space below the wall of the Philadelphia QZ looked like one of the further circles of hell. _

_The constant fights and the nightmare of the monthly food struggle that thoroughly devastated the neighboring cities - Baltimore and New York - forced the surviving inhabitants of those cities into an escape and an attempt to get into the last operating Quarantine Zone on the East Coast. Refugees swirled in several uneven, tight queues, pushing towards the gate's bottleneck, almost trampling each other. They kept screaming, "Let us in!" "Help us!" or "Have mercy!". Everyone's wish was to get inside a rather safe zone behind a high wall, behind which there was no deadly virus and infected - even at the price of all the restrictions and poor standard of living there. The crowd's cries mixed with shouts of the guards that were trying to control the masses._

_Managing to break free from New York, Heero arrived at the gates just like those refugees. Covering his face with a gray Afghan scarf and a hood pulled over his head, he approached the last waiting ones. He knew that these people had days of waiting in the cold before them. Some of them would starve without food and drink or freeze to death. The rest would be subjected to a detailed medical examination (which for those less fortunate would immediately end up giving a lethal injection), interrogation, and muddling through a bureaucratic meat grinder before they can set their feet in the zone._

_He had other plans. Heero lowered his head and quietly passed the crowd, walking along the about twenty meters high concrete wall surrounding the Philadephia QZ._

_It took him about an hour to reach the next entrance, which wasn't a usual border crossing, but only a guard's checkpoint. As he walked, cold, winter air thickened his hands, even though he kept them in his pockets all the time, the snow on the road penetrated inside his sneakers. Evading the guards' sight, Heero crept sideways, hiding behind a large pipe torn from the ground. There he crouched down, hidden, slipping his frozen hands under his armpits, curling up in himself, desperately trying to warm himself up._

_When the evening finally came, Heero shook himself from the cold and looked out of his hiding place in the direction of the outpost. As the guards conducted a changing of the guard, Heero eventually noticed the person he came all this way for. Waiting another few minutes for the right moment, Heero eventually rose from his knees and walked briskly toward the wall._

_A short, thin guard, dressed from head to toe in a black uniform and armed to the teeth, stood alone by the gate, his back turned to him. Right from under the black helmet, Heero noticed protruding red hair._

_Heero allowed himself to be heard, and the guard turned around to face him. The redhead instinctively raised his weapon, but after an instant, he recognized Heero and froze._

"…_did you got it?"_

_Heero narrowed his eyes and nodded his head in reply._

_The redhead guard smirked in a very creepy way, distorting his face in a grimace and revealing his yellow, rotten teeth, then dashed in Heero's direction, holding his Kalashnikov. Heero didn't move from his spot, standing still as if he had been turned into a stone figure. Keeping his eyes locked at the gun held by the guard, he pursed his lips, swallowing hard. Instinct told him to run away. He felt cold sweat at his back and held his breath, knowing what's about to happen and that he can't move even a single step..._

_The first, sharp blow to his stomach made Heero fell onto his knees to the icy ground, and then, receiving another hit of the shotgun butt in his back, he collapsed onto his face. After each one punch came another - equally ruthless and accurate one. Heero cringed on the ground, barely refraining himself from defending or fighting against further blows and kicks that covered his whole body. In a short flash of consciousness, he looked up and noticed a disgusting, sadistic smile on the guard's face... the motherfucker was currently enjoying it… Soon, the pain made him unable to any logical thinking; he only wanted this to end..._

_He lost count how long these tortures lasted. When they stopped, he laid still and limp on the frozen ground, wheezing, on the verge of consciousness. Throughout the thunder of blood in his head, he heard the triumphant voice of the redhead guard; that he had found a smuggler trying to get out of the zone. After a moment, Heero felt someone grab him by his clothes and drag him along the ground like a sack of coal. Parting his eyes, all he could see was the black shadow of the thick concrete wall and the searchlights on the background of the night sky._

_He sighed a shaking breath of relief. He was inside..._

_After another dozen or so meters, without any further warning, the guard released his jacket, and Heero collapsed limp down, hollowly hitting the ground. "Now, you better give me that."_

_It took him another few seconds to gather enough strength to slowly raise his body from the ground. Spitting blood from a cut lip, Heero looked around. He realized that this skinny guard dragged his actually really far - they were already behind the barbed wire at the very beginning of the residential area._

"_Hurry the fuck up, I don't have time," the redhead guard nagged, pacing, looking around nervously. _

_Shifting his weight onto his knees, Heero pulled a small package wrapped in black foil out of his pocket and threw it to the guard. The guard grabbed the bag and immediately unpacked it. As soon as he checked the content, a broad smile appeared on his face. He took a little white powder onto his dirty fingers, rubbing it against his gums, munching with satisfaction. Heero glared at the drug-addict with undistinguished revulsion and disgust._

"_This is good," he barked at Heero, walking up a step closer. "Now get the fuck out of here before-"_

_He couldn't finish his sentence when Heero lunged toward him, hitting his face with his fist so hard that he almost knocked all the man's rotten teeth out. Right after that, Heero took another swing to pack another punch, but froze, feeling a barrel of the guard's rifle biting into his breastbone._

"_What the fuck you're doing?!" the redhead hissed. "Are you out of your mind? I fucking saved you!"_

_Heero sent him a death glare from behind his unruly bangs, dropping his arms and slowly backing away from the rifle._

"_Fuck!" the redhead cursed, keeping Heero at gunpoint and massaging his cheek. He checked the inside of his hand for blood. "They were right about you! You're a fucking lunatic! How else could I get you inside the zone, huh? You should be thankful to me!"_

_Heero clenched his fists, glaring at his torturer with hatred that flooded his body like hot lava. "Now we're even," he hissed. "Find yourself another supplier. Stay the fuck away from me. If you touch me again, I swear I'll kill you."_

_The redhead guard made-up a scared face, then lifted his shotgun and shot two times into the air. The sound of shots echoed around the zone._

"_Bang, bang! It's you who's dead, punk," he laughed out loud. "Get the hell out of here. Use well the chance you've been given, fucker." Then the guard turned away, leaving Heero in a dark alley. _

_Battered all over his body, Heero spat blood again and limped a few meters back. He leaned for his backpack and threw it over his shoulders, letting out a hiss of pain, then looked around. To the guards, he was dead; he had no documents, food, weapon, ration cards, or shelter. But finally, after all this time, he was in the Philadephia QZ, the only safe haven on this side of the country. Now he will manage somehow. People here certainly needed smugglers, too._

_It started snowing, and white snowflakes illuminated the darkness of the night. Rubbing his aching arms and ribs, Heero pulled a hood over his head again and hobbled toward the dark, narrow alleys._

x x x

_A few days later_

Sleep slowly abandoned his body. Streams of cold, damp, fresh air flowed through the open window, then above the floor, into his narrow bed. Heero clenched both fists, rolling over onto his back. He stared at the ceiling, at his piece of the roof that felt strangely familiar to his after a few weeks, just like his Spartan bed. He wasn't longing a bit for his small flat back in Philadelphia QZ. Actually, he didn't feel the longing for anything. Did that mean he had everything he wanted? Shrugging this thought off, Heero slowly got up and dressed up. Realizing that the other men were still sleeping, he silently walked out of the barrack.

The sky was divided into two colors - the gray-navy and the one glowing in pink and orange on the horizon. The light slowly poured in the narrow streets of Evergreen, and the thick fog was rising through the wall from the surrounding meadows. The moist chill stung Heero with a million thin needles in exposed parts of his body. The sun was still gathering the courage to emerge from beyond the horizon.

At this magical moment, just before dawn, Evergreen was disturbingly quiet. Even the birds haven't sung yet. There was a crippling silence. Heero had never "heard" such silence; the silence that was so quiet that one could paradoxically hear it. It grew so overwhelming because nothing interrupted it. Although Heero always associated silence with death and destruction, here, in Evergreen, it was like a gentle breath before the sound of furrowing, buzzing, wheezing, shuffling, forging, laughing, crying, stomping, knocking, screaming, singing...

Heero breathed the chilly air into his lungs and slowly walked the misty streets of the village. He moved noiselessly, his sneakers kept dipping in the sand still wet from the morning dew. In a few minutes, he reached the right building, located almost in the middle of the village, next to the power plant building and the room with turbines, hearing the sound of an even noise flowing right next to the river turbines.

The warehouse door was closed, of course, but it only took him a couple more minutes to open it with a few wires. Then Heero slipped inside, closing the door behind him.

The interior was filled with the musty smell of oil and gunpowder as well as pine wood. The Evergreen armory was full of various types of ammunition and contained several dozen different caliber weapons. Heero walked quickly through the room, approaching the ammo crates at the far end of the room, just below the small window. The cartridges that Evergreen residents learned to make themselves from fired scales were wrapped in canvas packages. Next to them laid a few wooden boxes with brand-new ammunition found in nearby villages or cities abandoned before the outbreak of the epidemic.

Finding a piece of dry cloth, Heero made a makeshift package out of it and packed two handfuls from each set into it, making sure they fit his own weapon. He also took four grenades from the high shelves above the shotguns. Then he knelt on the ground, tying the package tightly…

"So you're really leaving."

He stiffened at the sound just behind his back. Instinct didn't prompt him to defend himself... and he recognized the voice immediately.

"Quatre," Heero muttered under his breath, rising from his knees and turning around. Quatre stood right behind him, the gray of morning light that came into the warehouse through small windows illuminated its delicate, aristocratic features. The blonde man wore his usual worried expression.

"Why all this stealing, Heero?" Quatre continued, with apparent regret, even sadness in his eyes. "Did you really think that I would let you and Relena go without anything?"

Heero narrowed his eyes at him, then tilted his head slightly down, without saying anything. He kept his gaze fixed at the package at his feet. Then he heard Quatre making a loud sigh.

"I should be furious," the blonde man muttered. "Despite our efforts, you still treat us as your enemies. Have you ever trusted anyone at all, Heero?"

"I'm not doing this for _myself_," Heero barked. "It's not about me."

Quatre's eyes glazed in the dim light, then seemed to sharpen dangerously. He started toward Heero.

"Are you sure what you are doing is right?"

Heero glowered. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, you do know exactly," Quatre muttered angrily, for the first time since they met. "Are you sure you're doing the right thing, taking Relena to Houston?"

Heero stared at Quatre, his expression growing darker, his fists tightly clenched.

"Do you have any authentic idea, what's exactly in there? All you know are rumors," Quatre said, stopping for a moment when Heero sent him a dismissive glare, then he continued. "I've heard about laboratories too, Heero. Somebody _is_ operating in Houston, that's for sure. But do you know who it is? Military? Fireflies…?"

"It may be a Peacecraft," Heero muttered.

Quatre sighed helplessly. "I know, Relena believes that but you can't be sure of that," he said. "You don't know their intentions…"

"That is what she wants," Heero stated with a tone that left no room for discussion. "And I won't let her go alone."

Quatre was silent for a moment, then his eyes filled with angst. "I have a bad feeling about this, Heero. I can't chase away the impression... that if indeed a Peacecraft stood behind the matter of these laboratories, there would be no such secrecy around it. People talk about these laboratories, but nobody seems to know _any_ details..."

Heero lifted his eyes at Quatre, discovering with impatience that the blonde man had just unveiled his own doubts that had been troubling him for some time. "Yeah," he muttered. Quatre was right. It was bizarre. Should the only chance to bring the world back to normality be shrouded in such a secret?

Quatre gazed at Heero, then turned around and walked over to the window. "Relena's immunity is the hope for the world, but not everyone would want to use it to save the _whole_ world," the blonde man whispered, looking out the window. "Many years have passed, hatred and lack of compassion have grown into human hearts, multiplying, and spreading like cancer. Many men, having the key to save humanity in their hands, wouldn't hesitate to use her to satisfy their particular interests… to play God… I have a feeling that it's not infected, but people who you should protect her from."

Heero tilted his head, listening to Quatre and looking out the window. He let the pregnant silence fall, which only made his interlocutor understand that despite everything they talked about... the decision had already been made.

Behind the window, the first rays of the rising sun appeared behind the clouds.

"I need to go," Heero said, bowing his head and walking towards the doors, passing Quatre by.

"Wait."

Heero stopped and turned around just before he opened the door. Quatre walked to the spot where Heero had been standing, then bent down and took the makeshift package in his hands.

"You forgot this," he said, passing him a package, but didn't let go of it yet, sending Heero a glance. "I want you to know that I support you with all my heart. If you ever need help... you can count on me."

x

_Relena POV_

Tossing just eaten food, Relena eagerly and desperately gasped air in her lungs, standing half-bent just behind the girls' dormitory building. The morning nausea was getting more and more draining for her; what's more, now she wasn't even feeling comfortable, as a packed backpack weighed on her shoulders. She leaned her hand against the wall, slowly straightening herself up, with her other hand wrapped around her belly.

"Oh God…" she gasped silently in between the breaths. Her heart was beating a crazy pace. "Easy…"

Relena looked sideways to make sure nobody could see her. Eventually, having calmed her breathing, she came out of hiding and quickly walked towards the well for water. She dipped her hands in the icy liquid and washed her face and mouth, then looked down, finding her reflection in the water in the bucket.

She grabbed the bucket with both hands, steadying it, and frowning at the outline of her face covered with water and sweat. Relena realized that her eyes were full of fear. She was carrying a child of a man whom she loved more than anything in the world... but nevertheless, she was thoroughly scared: of further travel, of pregnancy, and of her own lie that started to weigh on her unbearably... Never in her life had she looked so miserable.

"Relena!"

Catherine's approaching voice pulled her out of her thoughts.

"Shit…" Relena hissed, quickly and nervously wiping water off her face. It definitely wasn't time for self-pity. She grabbed the bucket and spilled the dirty water on the ground a second before Catherine appeared from around the corner.

"There you are," Catherine walked up to her, frowning suspiciously at the puddles on the ground. "Heero's been looking for you. You are leaving soon..."

"Yeah… I'm coming," Relena muttered, her eyes downcast. She brushed drops of water off her cheek, still unable to look at her friend.

"Everything's all right?" Catherine asked, apparently concerned. "Relena…"

"I'm all right," Relena cut Catherine off and walked briskly, trying to pass her by. "Just got a little dizzy."

Catherine stopped Relena halfway through. "Why are you fooling me? I'm not blind, Relena. Do you think I didn't see that you have been getting up early in the morning for more than a week already, each time running away around the building?"

Relena felt her pulse speed up at those words. She looked up, giving her friend a stern look. "I'm glad you care about me, but..."

"Relena, spare me this bullshit! Give this journey a second thought until it's not too late! I beg you," Catherine insisted. "You risk a lot, not only you but for the baby as-"

"Stop it!" Relena snapped at Catherine, cutting her short. Maybe a bit too harshly. She looked up at her friend's shocked face, then felt her eyes burn with tears. That moment she noticed a flash of compassion in her friend's look as if she understood... Relena felt emotionally broken, suffocating again because of the lie in which she was living. "Catherine, I know you're worried… but I've already made my decision."

"Does _he_ know?"

Relena shook her head violently. "He mustn't know…!"

Hearing Relena's harsh words, Catherine's eyes reddened and swelled with tears, she took a deep breath, covering her mouth with her hand. "Jesus, Relena..."

"I'll be okay," Relena wiped tears from the corners of her eyes, took a deep breath and finally got herself together, then smiled reassuringly at her friend. Catherine was clearly worried, perhaps even more terrified than Relena herself. Relena neared her and stroked her cheek. "Catherine, I will never forget our friendship. I loved you like a sister, and it won't change for the rest of my life. If you love me too... you need to let me go now."

A flash of pain appeared in Catherine's eyes, but she sobbed and hugged Relena tightly. "I want you to come back here, do you understand?" she whispered. "Otherwise, I will follow you anywhere to personally punch you."

Relena chuckled in her shoulder. She could already feel how badly she would miss her friend.

It took them a short while to calm themselves down and wipe away each other's tears, then they held their hands and moved in the direction of the main square. Walking the streets of Evergreen one last time, Relena had an opportunity to meet people she wanted to say goodbye to. Among them was handsome Jared, whose arm had already healed, and a little boy named Joe, already in good health; Joe barely allowed Relena to hug him goodbye, as he wanted so eagerly to go back to play with other children. Then they met Sylvia, who, still resentful and keeping her distance, solemnly wished Relena good luck. That was actually more than anything Relena would expect of her, and she sent her a smile. Passing by the hospital where Relena worked for the previous month, they met the woman named Evelyn with her almost one-month-old newborn Sam, which Relena helped to bring into the world. They also met Sally, who kept her word but provided Relena with all the help, giving her advice on her pregnancy in secret over the last days. Relena was very grateful to Catherine, who held her hand all the time and led her quite efficiently through those meetings. Otherwise, she would have cried tears of emotion continuously during the conversation with every single person.

She really loved this place. She genuinely wanted to come back here someday.

Finally, right at the foot of the high Evergreen gates, Trowa, Quatre, and Heero were standing, waiting for them. Next to them, two saddled horses stood - Heero's faithful, bay-colored stallion Zero and the other stallion, wth gray coloring, which Relena immediately recognized. She learned to ride him more than once during her stay in Evergreen.

When Relena entered the square, Heero clipped his shotgun to the saddle and turned around, his watchful and wary eyes focusing on her. She knew it was time to go.

Letting go of Catherine's hand, Relena hugged her goodbye one last time. Catherine shed another tear, then let Relena go and walked to Trowa, who gave her a protective, reassuring embrace. Relena shook Trowa's hand, then walked up to Quatre.

"It just seems like yesterday you came to Evergreen," Quatre sighed to Relena with a sad voice as she stood in front of him. "It's gonna be empty here without you, Relena..."

Relena smiled sadly, then wrapped her arms around Quatre, holding him tightly. She felt her heart tremble with gratitude. Words couldn't express her joy and the thankfulness she felt for her childhood friend. "Thank you for everything, Quatre. I'll never forget your kindness."

"Please, take care of yourself. Remember, there's a place for you here," Quatre whispered in her ear, returning the hug and rubbing her back gently.

Her heart trembled painfully for the hundredth time that day. Not sure how many emotions she would still be able to handle without bursting into tears, Relena released Quatre from her hug and, holding back tears with the last remaining strength, she walked briskly toward her horse.

She noticed that Heero stood still in his spot, measuring both Quatre and Trowa with his attentive but somehow unexceptionally emotional and gentle look, that she wouldn't expect of him. Then he courtly bowed his head at Quatre and Trowa.

"Thank you. For everything," he said.

Relena fixed her eyes at Heero, incredulously discovering that Heero had actually thanked someone for the first time since she had met him… But very soon, his eyes shaded again into his usual armor of impenetrability, and he turned on his heel away. "Take care."

"Yeah, you too," Trowa said.

"Please, watch yourself," Quatre added, sending a shy smile to Heero, then waved to the people on the wall, ordering them to open the gates. In the warming up morning air came up the noise of the bustle, accompanying the opening of the high metal gates.

Relena walked over to her horse, stroking his nostrils. The horse looked at her with big black eyes, letting out a soft neigh, as if he recognized her too.

"Treaty," she called the horse by his name, and the animal immediately focused its spiky ears at her.

"I heard you learned to ride a horse while I was away," she heard Heero's low voice from behind as he neared her. "They have prepped you this horse, but if you would rather go on one with me, that's all right."

She turned to face him, giving him a defiant smile and approached Treaty from sideways. "I'm already a big girl, I can ride by myself."

Heero gave her a stern look. "Be careful."

"I'm always careful," she replied, then resting her foot in the stirrup she deftly mounted the horse in one neat, trained leap. Looking down at Heero, she noticed in his eyes a flash of anxiety but also admiration, to which she responded with a triumphant smile. "So? You're going?"

Heero smiled knowingly back at her, then walked to Zero and mounted him, immediately turning the horse around on the haunches, facing the already open gates. Zero whinnied loudly and impatiently, stamping his hooves on the sand. Pulling the right rein, Relena turned Treaty around too and then looked over her shoulder for the last time at Quatre, Trowa, and Catherine… at Evergreen.

"See you later," Relena said with a broken voice, waving her hand at her friends. "Stay safe."

"Godspeed," Quatre replied.

"Good luck, you two!" Catherine cried, remaining in Trowa's arms.

Turning toward the unknown, dangerous world that was lurking behind the ever-closed Evergreen gates, Relena bit her lip, sitting firmly in the saddle. Treaty waved his ears nervously, apparently worried about going outside the safe Evergreen, but slowly got encouraged by the dynamic and impetuous Zero, who stamped his hooves nervously, confidently stopped by Heero from galloping toward the meadows.

Relena looked at Heero and his calm, but confident blue eyes gave her all the courage she needed to go into the wild. "Ready?" she heard him asking, as he collected his reins and halted Zero. She smiled back at him.

"Anytime you are."

Zero started running first, Treaty right behind him, immediately catching up. The summer wind stirred their thick manes, and both horses seemed as if they were surging up into the air. Heero and Relena left Evergreen shoulder to shoulder, churning up dust clouds, carried along with the late-summer wind towards the vast fields that flickered in gold and silver.

Never in her life had Relena Peacecraft felt so free.

.

* * *

TBC

Hello everyone!

Thank you for all your messages and reviews, especially a massive 'thank you' to my dearest and most faithful readers: Mistaken-Miracles, Hellocat42, sushidango, and those of you, who are guests on FF!

Welcome back on the trail throughout the post-apocalyptic world. The home straight to Houston is ahead of us, but is it the simplest? It remains to be seen… The chapter began with another flashback from Heero's life - that's how he got into the zone in Philadelphia, where he lived until he met Relena and Duo. His path to her was difficult, painful and bumpy... was this suffering worth it? I think you subconsciously sense the answer...

BTW, of course, horse-riding isn't advisable for pregnant women, I know it perfectly. But embarking on deadly-dangerous expeditions isn't too. With what awaits them, horse riding seems like a child's play for Relena.

See you in the next chapter!

P.S. On June 19th, 'The Last of Us Part 2' on PS4 is out. If I didn't finish the next chapter before that, it would mean that I'm very busy playing…

~enelle


	37. Chapter 37 - The Way South

**Chapter 37 - The Way South**

_August_

_Two weeks later_

_Heero POV_

_._

The journey across the south of the United States of America was strenuous and monotonous again, although admittedly less fatiguing thanks to Zero and Treaty. Without the horses, crossing such long navigational legs on foot would have been far more debilitating, especially taking under consideration that the weather didn't change much, and they still felt the heat of the south. Thankfully, the Evergreen horses did very well and withstood various adversities and discomforts of such a long and distant travel. What's more, judging by their behavior, by how they communicated or brushed each other, one could actually think that they could even like each other.

This part of the journey was also particular because of one important reason. Heero and Relena could finally enjoy each other's everyday closeness again. And it wasn't only about the comfortableness in intimacy matters, though it certainly mattered too. Although Evergreen was a safe place, the fact that they had to sleep separately turned out to be distressing. Their reciprocal closeness had the mysterious power to reduce and ease all the hardships of their journey so that even a piece of the hard floor seemed cozy like a made-up bed. So, when the very first morning after leaving Evergreen, Heero awoke holding Relena in his arms, when he felt her delicate smell and the warmth of her body, he wondered how he could ever squint his eye without her at his side.

Approaching the Gulf of Mexico, they kept seeing more and more often broken or tilted signposts pointing the way to the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Nevertheless, Heero had absolutely no intention of getting into this city. He remembered hearing only bad things about what had happened there from the very beginning of the pandemic. New Orleans had been swept entirely by the infection as one of the first of the southern cities, and the military quickly had decided to bomb it to ashes - to annihilate the hordes of infected. Apparently, the downtown was utterly destroyed, but even that couldn't have stopped the infection from spreading, and survivors who managed to escape from the ruined city couldn't put in words the extent of the horror without bursting into tears.

It was evident that the bridges around New Orleans didn't exist anymore, so the option that Heero and Relena were left with was to bypass the city overland around its northern borders and suburbs. So they did, and soon they reached a town called Hammond, Louisiana.

They rode down one of the main streets, along its grassy side, to save the horses' hooves. The town was deserted, like all the others they passed along their journey, but wasn't destroyed by the military. The nature and humid climate of Louisiana definitely did more damage here. Torrential rains and heat caused a massive growth of vegetation, which, not restrained by anyone, slowly appropriated its once stolen land, being at the same time more ruthless than falling bombs. Ivy and trees grew around the houses, ripping the soaked facades, weeds and grass grew in large cracks in the asphalt road, parking lots turned into extensive swamps, and wild birds nested in the windows of once inhabited houses.

Once the sun hanged at its highest point on the sky, Heero and Relena stopped their horses at a ruined gas station. Traveling in such heat was as equally exhausting for them and for horses, and the station's extensive roof provided them a shade they needed so much.

Heero jumped off his horse and looked around carefully, as he always did. They were at one of the more significant intersections before the strict city center. The surrounding buildings were low, but just across the street, in front of the large parking lot, stood a tall, multi-story building, the only one in the vicinity. A torn, half-burned American flag still fluttered on the tilted pylon right on the building's grounds.

The building seemed somehow compelling to Heero, at least to his sense of a smuggler. He walked a few steps out of the shade of the gas station, feeling the warmed-up concrete under his feet and watching the construction from the other side of the street. The facade of the building resembled a massive, black, granite block. Only the front wall was full of dirty, moss-covered, cracked windows, the rest of the building seemed like a windowless, high fortress. Its walls were covered with hundreds of sizable, fluttering in the wind government banners, the vicinity of the building was a stack of broken metal barriers and chaotically parked cars. It looked more like a warehouse or stronghold than a _bank_ \- as evidenced by the "Guaranty Bank" inscription, still visible on the front wall.

"Heero?" he heard Relena's voice from behind. He turned around; she stood by Treaty and caressed the horse's neck. The sweat accumulating on her temples slightly stuck her bangs on her forehead, and she had delicate blushes on the cheeks from the sun. "What is it? Something's wrong?"

Heero tilted his head towards the building, then quickly paced back to his horse, brushing his bangs away from his eye line. "I'll go check what's in there."

"…there?" Relena gasped, looking at the building's direction, then narrowed her eyes, but said nothing. Instead, she turned to Treaty and tied the horse by its reins to a gasoline dispatcher.

Heero gazed at her, surprised. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm tying Treaty," Relena muttered. "I'm going with you."

"No, you're not. You're staying here."

"Heero!" she protested loudly, confrontationally making a step in his direction.

"Just wait a minute here," he almost growled at her. "I'll go to see if there's anything useful inside."

Relena snorted with impatience and disbelief, gazing at the gloomy building once more. Anger soared in her so much that she seemed to run out of words, then she chuckled nervously. "Why of all the buildings on the whole south coast you had to choose the most gloomy one?! This place gives me creeps!"

"That's the point. All looters and grave robbers feel exactly the same," Heero murmured, unfastening his shotgun from his saddle and shouldering it. His smuggler's sense hadn't disappointed him yet, and he intended to trust it one more time. "Plus, it surely was a strategic object in the first days of the pandemic. In such places, you can usually find a lot of useful things."

"Yes, along with the infected!" Relena noted. "Heero, we _don't need_ to go there! We still have supplies…"

"We mustn't miss opportunities to resupply it," Heero replied in a tone that hated the discussion, then gave her a careful, fierce look. "Wait for me _here_."

She grabbed his arm. "Heero, please, don't..."

The grip on her delicate hand couldn't stop him. He walked briskly, easily breaking free of her reach, toward the tall, black building that resembled an old Egyptian tomb. He didn't slow down until he was sure he didn't hear Relena's footsteps behind him.

Crossing the street, he walked around the building and approached it from the parking lot. Jumping over chaotically parked cars, almost burning himself of their hot surfaces, he slowly approached the stairs. At close range, the building betrayed its harsh condition, to which led him two decades of exposure to the merciless, hot, and humid climate of southern Louisiana. Even granite walls hadn't resisted vegetation, and small ivy lianas came out of every recess, bursting the wall from the inside. The building probably had no more than five more years before it would collapse. Maybe even less.

The tall, metal entrance doors, once barricaded, were now unhinged from the outside. Apparently, survivors trapped inside had been unable to stop the attack from outside - of soldiers or infected. Heavy storage units that blocked the door squeaked under his weight as Heero leaped nimbly through it. As soon as Heero got inside, the aura dramatically changed. Despite the heat outside, there was a peculiar chill here, but almost no draft. Pulling the shotgun off his shoulder and holding it in front of him, Heero leaned forward and slowly stepped into the main hall.

The hall was high and vast, only a little sunlight was slipping through the damaged windows in the roof. Instinctively, Heero reached behind his back to grasp a mask attached to his backpack and immediately put it over his head. Just in time: a few seconds later, he entered into a cloud of spores. They were coming out of the huge, old, almost fading flowers and stems covering the stairs leading down, on the lower level. Below, the Cordyceps flowers bloomed so densely that it was practically impossible to squeeze through them on the stairs. This made Heero decide to stay on the ground floor. Inhaling the filtrated air with a soft hiss through his mask, he directed his steps toward the reception desk and then to the door next to the dark corridor. The inscription above them said "staff only" - instinct told him that this direction might be correct, so he moved forward, behind the reception desk, and jerked the metal door handle. Of course, the doors were closed.

Heero looked around closely. Right around the corner, a dark corridor commenced. Heero carefully stepped a few steps inside the passage then stopped, illuminating his view with the flashlight. He didn't like what he saw. The corridor was narrow and long, he couldn't spot its end. The part of the ceiling almost completely collapsed, breaking away from the floor above - together with damaged ventilation ducts, old cables, furniture, and various other stuff or trash from above. Still, it was possible to trespass, though the air inside the corridor was thick with spores. Heero inhaled deeply through his mask, feeling the tension painfully strain nerves in his body, then headed inside, keeping his flashlight together with his rifle in front of him.

Rainwater poured inside the building through all the nooks and crannies, and the wet floor was bent curved and rugged. It creaked alarmingly under his feet, but Heero kept on walking, ignoring all the warnings that flared up in his mind. Despite his nimble movements, he realized he was far too audible. The floor creaked loudly under his weight, betraying his every move, and that sound was definitely not reassuring. Along with the squeaking of the floor, Heero could hear the low, ominous growl of the building's walls, as if they narrowed around him. The concrete interior of the granite building was slowly losing the battle against time and elements. The construction was so weakened that it could actually collapse anytime.

When Heero passed the pile of rubble from the collapsed ceiling, in the narrow, swinging light of his flashlight, he noticed torn apart corpses, far advanced in decay. They were undoubtedly Hammond residents, among them were several children... The bank must have been some kind of evacuation gathering place. The further Heero walked down the corridor, the more corpses he passed. Some of them were torn to shreds, frozen forever in scary poses. He felt all his muscles painfully tensing, but he kept walking, holding a rifle in front of him.

Soon, apart from the corpses of people, Heero found the first infected - or rather the dry body of the dead Clicker. It was the first alarming sign that indicated that this place was definitely dangerous. But he had gone far enough that he couldn't go back.

Eventually, at his left, Heero noticed a door with an old, yellowed sign saying "storage room." He jerked at the handle, but it was locked. He turned around. On the other side of the aisle, behind the glass window, there was a room for the security team. On its wall hung a board with keys. Lighting up his view with the flashlight, Heero slowly and carefully stepped inside the room and chose one of the keys, then approached the closed door again. The key fitted, turning the lock and opening the door. Heero bent down to move a dried-up corpse blocking his path and pulled the door toward him, opening them with a loud creak.

"Bingo," Heero whispered under his breath triumphantly, as he peered inside. His movement and a breath of air swayed up the dust accumulated in the room for decades. In the darkness, he noticed the outlines of a few shelves glimmering in the light of his flashlight. He crossed the threshold of the room in one big step, and walked closer to the first storage units, carefully examining the boxes stored on it, trying to make as little noise as possible.

He found a lot of useful things, as he had expected. He replenished the supply of blades by finding a few quite nice, sharp scissors and letter openers, and also found several pieces of decent rope. But the most important find was a whole first aid kit, which was always at a premium.

Heero leaned over his backpack and packed his findings inside when he suddenly froze, hearing a distinct sound. The sound came from the corridor that led into the room he was in. Heero realized that he was definitely not alone in the dark granite building. He held his breath, staying in his spot completely still and listening carefully. The sound resembled steps and sounded even, but slow. Heero narrowed his eyes; they didn't belong to the infected - they were too even.

Whatever it was, it was slowly coming. And Heero didn't intend to get stuck in this damn storage room. With a quick but noiseless movement, he fastened his backpack and slipped it on his shoulders, then backed away against the wall opposite to the door, holding the weapon in front of him, ready to shoot. Carefully placing foot after foot, he aimed his flashlight to the corridor... to find out with surprise that _that thing_ that was approaching apparently had a flashlight, too.

Heero quickly unlocked his shotgun and leaned to the side, trying to see through the ajar door what was approaching... and as soon as he recognized the filigree, blond-haired figure, he immediately lowered his gun.

"Holy shit…!" he hissed through his mask. Of all the possible options, he expected _her_ least to come to here. "What the hell are you doing here? I told you to wait."

Ocean eyes glared at him through the darkness from behind the glass of the gas mask. They were filled with a mixture of terror and anger - mostly anger. "If you thought I would listen to you, then you don't know me at all," Relena responded boldly. "I followed your footprints."

Despite her daring attitude, her voice was trembling. So were her hands, in which she clenched the flashlight. She was undoubtedly terrified, walking alone through this nightmarish, narrow corridor full of corpses. He was actually impressed that she managed to reach this far at all.

Heero glared back at her. "Are you out of your mind?" he hissed with a heated tension in his voice. "Get out of here immediately, it's dangerous here."

"I'm not leaving without you."

Her stubbornness was insurmountable, as always. Subconsciously, Heero knew that once she had voluntarily walked half of this building by herself, only to look for him, no force in this world would compel her to leave him here and go back - again by herself. On the other hand, he realized that he had actually found more of the useful stuff than he had expected and decided that it was enough to capitulate.

"Fine. We're leaving."

In the dim light, he could notice the relieved, but at the same time, a triumphant smile on Relena's face, then she turned on her heel and walked back down the narrow corridor toward the hall with the reception. Heero followed her, taking his usual careful and slow steps, but her gait was way much faster. As if she couldn't wait to get outside. This shouldn't have been surprising if it wasn't for...

A split second later, this strange shiver and the bad feeling shot through Heero's neck and at the back of his head. The moans of the building's decaying structure reached his ears again. Relena's silhouette moved quickly away from him in the dark corridor, her footsteps booming in the abyss of the building like hellish snare drums. Probably wanting to get out of the awful building as soon as possible, Relena took her steps too quickly. Less carefully…

"Relena, slow-"

Those were the only words he managed to spoke to her before the roar of bending metal, and the thunder of crumbling concrete reverberated on the whole ground floor. The entire building literally shook. Coming to a dead stop, Relena turned around abruptly, gazing at Heero with terrified eyes from behind her gas mask as the damaged ceiling above her split in half. Shortly, debris and dust began to fall from above, instantaneously burying the corridor.

Heero could only look at Relena helplessly. She was a few meters ahead of him, already fading behind a curtain of a dust avalanche. Too far for him to run or jump to her.

"Run!" Heero roared at Relena, taking two steps back, as the ceiling above them opened wider, like hell gates, dropping tons of concrete, debris, furniture, garbage, and musty rainwater into the corridor.

At the very last second, Heero turned away, hunching, shielding the delicate surface of his own gas mask with his arms and hands. The falling debris bounced off the walls, hitting him in the back. He preferred to die buried under a rockfall than because of a cracked gas mask through which he would breathe in deadly spores. The thump caused by the collapse of the upper floor was so robust and resounding that it almost stunned him.

When the noise faded, Heero looked back, lifting up his flashlight, and he noticed only a high pile of crushed debris and concrete, that was now blocking his way out. The corridor he walked through minutes ago disappeared from the face of the earth, smashed under the rubble of the first floor.

"Relena!" Heero called her, reaching the rubble and kicking away a few huge pieces of concrete and distorted metal parts from his path, trying to get through to her, but it was in vain. Concrete blocks were too heavy, and the pile of the rubble was thick.

Relena didn't answer him from the other side of the wall of debris.

He felt his heart drop, and his hands started trembling. He abruptly stopped decluttering the rubble and roared louder, with all the might of his lungs. "Relena! Relena, answer me!"

"Heero!"

Hearing her voice, muted by the obstacle of the rubble, Heero breathed a sigh of relief, nervously catching air through his gas mask. Relena's voice sounded clear and sharp, but he couldn't see her. He darted his head up, inspecting the debris between them for any crack or slit, but found any. "Are you all right?"

"I think so…" Relena gasped from behind the rubble.

And then Heero froze, as the building was suddenly filled with a sound taken straight from the depths of hell.

A terrifying, deafening, torturous scream. Coming from... the other side of the debris heap.

Relena's side.

"Fuck...!" Heero hissed under his breath. "Infected!"

"Heero...!" Relena called him. He could hear an evident horror and dread in her voice. "They're coming…!"

Heero's throat tightened when he fully realized the hopelessness of their situation: he was unable to get through the pile of rubble, behind which Relena was soon to be surrounded by infected who crawled out of their holes lured by the noise caused by the blow. She was stuck in the narrow corridor, with no exit but the one from the reception desk, now blocked by the incoming infected.

The loud, squeaking roar and clicking sound made him realize that the building was full of _Clickers_... The multiple and chaotic cries made it apparent that there were too many of them to ask Relena to shoot at them… and they were getting louder and louder with each second… nearing.

He let out a trembling breath.

"Heero…"

Relena's petrified, almost breathless, and evidently heartbroken voice snapped him out of a stupor and instantly restored his ability to think logically. As if someone splashed a bucket of ice water over his head. He suddenly realized that there was only _one thing_ he could do.

"Relena, SHUT UP!"

He roared as loudly as he could, hoping so badly that his voice will reach her through the debris and the screams of the infected… and that the superficial harshness of his words would get her attention. "Stay close to the wall! From now on, you mustn't say a single word! Don't even answer me!"

From behind the stone barrier that separated them, he could hear that his voice lured Clickers closer to this end of the corridor, to the pile of rubble from the collapsed upper floor. The infected's chaotic steps bounced off the corridor walls as they got near and approached the source of the only noise in the narrow passage...

Panting for air, Heero didn't move from his spot, leaning with his whole body against the rubble, as if he wanted to permeate through it. He clenched his fists nervously, crushing tiny bits of debris in his hands. Helplessness bit his guts, he felt hot, blood pulsed in his temples, and his chest hurt with a wild heartbeat, as he strained his hearing.

He couldn't hear Relena's voice on the other side… only the powerless barking of Clickers, as they furiously hit their claws against the obstacle of the rubble, trying to get to _him_.

"Remember, _they can't see you_!" Heero shouted again, and the Clickers immediately raised a loud, horrific scream, aggressively storming the barrier of debris that separated him from Relena. He didn't care at all whether other infected would run at him from behind his back, from the other end of this hellish corridor. It didn't matter to him at all… "Don't move, and they won't spot you."

The rubble he leaned against almost trembled under him when a pack of Clickers helplessly bounced off it. Heero pressed his face to its surface and closed his eyes, listening carefully, but no human voice answered him from the other side… not a scream, nor whisper... he didn't see her, but he had to believe that she was still alive.

_She had to be_…

"Don't say anything. I know that you can hear me," he repeated, feeling his voice break. He cursed silently and swallowed before being able to continue. "Hang in there a little bit longer, Relena. I'll get you out of here. I promise."

A furiously angry roar of Clickers answered him from the other side. _Just_ _their_ _roar_.

Heero slowly stepped away from the debris pile, clenching his fists, feeling powerless agitation tiding in him. He could subconsciously sense that Relena was still _alive_ on the other side - he saw her through his imagination, curled up of fear on the floor in the corner of the corridor, only inches from the furious, bloodthirsty Clickers. Holding her breath, she was looking up at the terrifying, though blind monsters that hunted for her, searching and scanning the air for the faintest sound.

A cold shiver ran down his arms and shoulders, he felt like hurting himself. She warned him, she begged him to not enter this building…

_It's my fault_.

His flashlight began to flicker again, so he shook it. Maybe a little too violently, but it eventually worked correctly. He jerked his head up, gazing into the darkness of the floor above that collapsed on their heads, then quickly began to climb the debris and the ventilation shafts up to the upper level.

Never before in his life had he listened so carefully and perceptively to the infernal roars of the infected. But as long as he kept hearing only those enraged, helpless cries and shrieks, he knew that he still had a chance to get Relena out of here alive.

Even if it was a one-in-a-million shot…

.

* * *

TBC

Hello Readers!

Believe it or not, I had shivers writing this chapter. And at night I dreamed of what I wrote... it wasn't a pleasant dream at all. That's what happens when you're letting your imagination play games, and you're trying to describe everything in the most realistic way.

Don't try this at home.

Stay safe,

~enelle


	38. Chapter 38 - The Standstill

**Chapter 38 - The Standstill**

_Relena POV_

_._

Her legs were still, but the rest of her body was shaking. She lacked air, her throat was so strangled that she was unable to take a satisfying breath. She felt the ground trembling under her feet, and her ears rang from the excruciating howl of the surrounding infected. Relena had never been claustrophobic, but this time she had the impression that the corridor around her narrowed as if they were to crush her.

The hard wall's resistance was behind her back, and a dozen, if not only a few centimeters in front of her, in the middle of the corridor, four Clickers went wild in a bloodthirsty and frantic rage, trying to break through the rubble from behind which they heard a human voice coming. By some inexplicable, sheer luck, the blind monsters were _still_ utterly unaware that a totally defenseless prey was so much closer, within reach of their jaws and claws.

The thought that she was still breathing, though heavily, that her heart was still beating, though as if after a crazy run... that she was _still alive_, although she was currently looking at her own death, kept Relena a state of carnal, almost animal, fear.

Because all that meant that the worst was yet for her to suffer through.

"Don't say anything. I know that you can hear me."

His controlled, calm voice reached her through the wall again, teasing Clickers, driving them even more furious of hunger. The monsters kept blindly striking their wounded, almost skinned hands against the debris, the stones that they kept throwing away flew in all directions, bouncing off the floor and wall around Relena.

She could barely breathe - not to mention the scream, but now she felt a hot wave tiding in her chest. How on earth could he be so collected?! Was this man afraid of _anything_ at all? She paradoxically felt anger at him, for his self-control, for his lack of fear…

"Hang in there a little bit longer, Relena. I'll get you out of here. I promise."

Hearing his words, she felt panic flood her chest, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't tell him or express in any way that she didn't want him to go, that she didn't want to be left behind and alone, _all alone_ with a pack of Clickers. Relena strengthened her senses to hear anything more that he could have said to her… but Heero didn't speak again.

She stared at the monsters in front of her. Their wounded, contorted, covered with rotting skin bodies disgusted and frightened her at the same time, and the sounds she heard froze the blood in her veins. In the darkness lit only by the faint light of the flashlight, which she had dropped to the floor during the collapse of the ceiling, Relena could see fragments of their clothes... shoes... tufts of different colored hair... One of the monsters still had a gold wedding band on his wounded, bloody finger...

Relena froze, realizing that these monsters indeed were humans once… But now… they would tear her in shreds in an instant. Her immunity would in no way save her if they ripped off her windpipe from her throat with one bite…

That moment she felt her legs refuse to obey her. Still leaning against the wall, or rather clinging to it as close as possible, Relena sank to her knees. The Clickers were too busy eagerly attacking the rubble, from behind which came the sound of the falling debris, and thankfully they didn't notice the faint, almost inaudible rustling sound right next to them. Sitting up, Relena drew legs up to her chest and rested her head in the gas mask on top of her knees. She clenched hands around her ears, trying to drown out the nightmare shriek of the infected, which was hurting her brain like a thousand needles.

All she could do... was to wait. And to focus her whole conscience on not to lose her mind before… or worse.

x

_Heero POV_

_._

Heero kept climbing.

He reached a few centimeters higher and clenched his hand on the protruding piece of concrete, pulling his body up. He tried to find support for his foot, but the debris kept crumbling under his weight, and he hung solely on the strength of his arms. Climbing in the gas mask was knackering to the limit; he lacked air. To keep his consciousness, he had to take breaks, but they were a waste of precious time, which allowed him to save her...

Suddenly, the aged and soaked concrete crumbled under his weight like powder, and he started falling.

With both hands, he swung desperately forward. His left hand tightened on the protruding pieces of the iron rod that bent under him with a menacing groan but held him. He couldn't find his footing again and hung on the rod like a rag doll. Beneath him, more than five meters downward, he noticed hard stones of concrete and twisted steel rods, sharp as knives.

"…ssshit-" Heero hissed angrily, gazing down, then tilted his head up. In the darkness, illuminated only by the swaying light of his flashlight attached to his jacket, through the steamy goggles of the gas mask, he searched for any other grip before he would lose strength in his shoulder.

…_I'm not going to die here_.

Hanging on one arm, he swayed his body with all his strength and reached out his hand, clenching his fingers on the protruding piece of floor. He finally felt support, immediately grabbed it with the other hand and, breathing in a quick, shallow breath, pulled himself up with a loud grunt.

As he climbed up, dragging his body on the top of the floor, he slumped on his hands and knees, resting his forehead against the dusty, moldy floor. If the place he had just climbed on was full of infected, he wouldn't even be able to lift his head and look up at them. He was fighting for oxygen, which the gas mask was only merely unable to supply enough at once. The thick filter of the mask could suffocate him, and its removal in these conditions, when the air around him was sticky with floating spores, was tantamount to death. Heero felt cold sweat running down his back, his knees were trembling with exertion, his whole body almost on the verge of shock. His lungs burned with real fire, his head was pounding with blood, while his heart kept telling him to keep going because he simply couldn't afford himself any delay while she was still _there_...

Never before had he been in such condition. Even having faced the most significant threat, he could act calmly. He had never lacked air when running in the mask. And now he couldn't control his accelerated, almost frantic heartbeat, and he was breathing so fast that it could kill him.

_I'm not going to die here. Not before I get her out of here_.

Although he was still panting like a dog, after a few more seconds, which seemed an eternity, Heero eventually managed to even out his breath. He slowly rose from his knees, lighting the corridor in front of him. He needed a few more seconds to get his bearings: the creaking of the old floor under his feet, moans of falling division walls, dripping water from the roof, the rustle of falling debris... and the distinct sound of _clicking_ coming clearly from somewhere beneath.

Straightening himself up, Heero pulled his pistol from behind his belt and reloaded it, then sucked in long, controlled breaths walking forward through the dark floor.

The corridor was empty, there were not even dried bodies. Soon Heero reached the empty, narrow staircase and quickly ran down the stairs one floor down, then pulled the exit door handle to the first floor, where the main hall with reception was. But the door didn't even budge.

"Come on...!" Heero muttered, jerking the handle several times, but the door only creaked grimly. They were completely blocked, either by a lock or from the outside. "Fuck!" Heero cursed, hitting the handle with his fist and pushed against the doors with all his strength. In vain.

He turned around, looking at the stairs. There was only one way left.

Lower.

Looking down, Heero realized that it had to be the second entrance to the underground level, to which led stairs down from the reception... the one thickly overgrown with fungus. He drew a deep breath and, without any further hesitation, walked down the stairs one floor down, descending below ground floor level.

Descending step by step lower and lower, the air around him thickened from spores, and every nerve in his body was strained and warmed like burning iron. All his senses sharpened, and his pulse accelerated from the adrenaline seeping into the bloodstream. The passage echoed with the rhythmic drum sound of the dripping water. Although it was cold, or even grave cold like usually in the underground, Heero felt hot, and sweat was running down his neck. The light of his flashlight was ending somewhere far in the corridor, only barely revealing the darkness that spread around him. He could feel the light breeze, and spores were swirling lazily in the air before his eyes. He sensed slippery, wet linoleum under his feet, the plaster partition walls around him were bent from moisture and swollen with mold. Here and there, he saw corpses on which lush and ominous Cordyceps fungus' flowers bloomed. Heero walked slowly forward through the corridor, keeping his rifle in front of him, passing successive entrances to smaller rooms, though his instinct told him to run.

Suddenly the underground corridor trembled with a gloomy, low growl.

Heero held his breath and froze, lighting the space in front of him with his flashlight as the snarling sound repeated. Never before had he heard anything like it. It definitely wasn't a Runner or Clicker - they didn't make such sounds. Then the snarl turned into the throaty gagging. The sound came from the entrance to the right of the corridor. Whether he liked it or not, Heero knew he had to go past that open door.

Carefully stepping in, holding the loaded weapon in front of him, he approached the door opening, then slowly illuminated the interior. What he saw chilled blood in his veins. In the middle of the room, he saw a tall, potent figure standing sideways to him. All its skin was covered with thick growths of the fungus, dark liquid flowed from the wounds on the floor. The silhouette had no face, just like Clicker, although it seemed that unlike Clicker, it didn't have a neck, and its jaw merged with the upper part body. Just below the huge, fungus overgrown, double-cut head sharp, dark teeth protruded, dripping with black ick.

Heero had never seen a Bloater before. It was the fourth stage of Cordyceps Brain Infection. Very rare. He had only heard about a Bloater from the few who survived the meeting with this monster. All he knew about it was that this kind of infected was unusually strong, though slower. And was also blind, just like Clickers.

Not wanting to confront the giant in the dark underground corridor, Heero moved further on his bent legs, still holding the weapon in front of him. He kept his eyes on Bloater every second. Although he walked noiselessly, he had the impression that he was moving like an elephant in a china shop. Meanwhile, the Bloater's body shook with strange, violent convulsions, it let out a prolonged cough, almost like a choke.

Those were genuinely nightmarish sounds.

Eventually, leaving the monster behind him, just around the corner, Heero noticed a faint light and stairs up, utterly overgrown with fungus. He recognized the stairs - those were the ones that led up to the main hall. Pushing aside stems and fungal plants, Heero slowly climbed up between the rotting corpses.

As soon as he went out into the lobby next to the reception, he immediately heard a familiar clicking sound. He broke through the last row of plants and silently came out of the underground, then cautiously walked toward the corridor he had entered earlier and peered inside.

When the sharp light of his flashlight stopped on the curled figure leaning against the wall, surrounded by four agitated Clickers, he breathed a sigh of relief. Relena was all right, though seemed so terrified that she didn't even look up when he lit her with a flashlight, still keeping her head rested against her joined knees.

Heero held the beam of light on Relena for another moment, trying to get her attention, and eventually, she looked up. Although at this distance, he couldn't see her face clearly through the steamed mask, he was sure she was looking at him; then, he raised a finger to his face and held it at lip level, to keep her quiet. Relena put her hands on the floor and nodded towards him.

Then Heero slipped his backpack from his shoulders and pulled out a glass bottle half-filled with the rest of the benzine, which he took in advance from one of the cars while they were still riding the motorcycle they had borrowed from Wufei. He had already prepared a piece of dry cloth for it. Opening the bottle, Heero soaked the fabric thoroughly and stuck it inside the bottleneck.

Out of the corner of his eye, Heero noticed that Relena, still remaining hidden, was watching him closely. He nodded knowingly at her, then reached for the nearest stone lying on the floor next to him, and threw it at the reception.

The effect was immediate. At the sound of a stone hammering into the granite countertop, all four Clickers turned on their heels and started furiously, almost tripping over their own legs, running to the reception. As soon as they ran out of the corridor, leaving Relena behind, Heero pulled out a lighter. In no time, Clickers reached the exact spot where the stone hit the reception, and there they began to search nervously for the prey. That moment Heero lit a fuse sticking out of the bottle, took a swipe, and threw it.

The bottle, as if carried by some supernatural force, crashed in the very middle of the Clickers' gathering. At that one moment, they all caught fire, and the remains of the glass windows of the spacious hall shook with their deafening, terrifying, painful scream. The scream was so powerful that the earth shook as if the entire building was about to collapse. Four figures burned like torches, running around, screaming.

Heero quickly swung the backpack over his shoulders and ran into the corridor. As soon as he reached Relena, he grabbed her by her hands. "Get up!" he urged her, though he felt that she was still in shock. "We're getting out of here."

"Oh God, Heero," she sighed, relieved, clutching at his shoulder, as they headed toward the exit from the corridor. The cries of the infected were slowly fading out. "I thought…"

He looked into her blue eyes, hidden behind the dirty glass of the mask. "Come on," he murmured. He quickened his pace, running out of the corridor with Relena at his side. "Walk faster. We're not safe here..."

Then a terrible roar deafened them. It was clear that it didn't come out of Clickers whose black corpses were already smoking on the hall floor. The majestic and powerful howl came from below, from beneath their feet, causing the whole building to shake. Heero tugged Relena by the hand, stepping away from the fungus-covered stairs down, on which the Bloater he had met before was slowly, sluggishly approaching them.

"Dear God," Relena sighed, terrified, almost stopping out of shock. "Heero… what is that?"

"Relena, run! Don't look back, just run to the exit!"

Hearing their voices, the Bloater turned to face them and disclosed its jaw in its full glory, roaring terribly towards them, and Heero knew that apart from their voices, the monster could easily hear the sound of their feet hitting the wet floor... but the exit was so close...

Flexing his shielded with fungus body, the Bloater roared furiously, and so loudly that the walls of the building trembled, and streams of plaster flew from the ceiling. The monster was standing on their way out of the building - if they wanted to get out, they had to bypass it. Heero stopped in the corner, pulling a shotgun from his shoulder.

"Keep running," Heero told Relena, leaning over and unlocking the shotgun. He lost sight of Bloater for a moment, and when he looked at Relena again, she stood by him, staring forward helplessly. "Relena, go on…!"

"Heero, watch out!"

The Bloater roared again, and Relena threw herself at Heero, knocking him off to the floor when a second later in the exact spot where they stood, something powerful exploded, severely denting the floor. The explosion filled the air with a thick cloud of spores. Landing on the ground, Heero quickly started getting up, dragging Relena with him.

_So the Bloater is also able to throw loads of fungus_…

In another second, though it was impossible to see it through the cloud of spores, Heero could hear the heavy patter of feet as the monster charged on them.

"Get up!" Heero helped Relena get up, then pulled her by her hand toward the exit. "Now is our chance. To the exit!"

Relena ran as he told her, as quickly as she could, and right behind her, the Bloater emerged from the cloud of spores, frantically waving its fat arms, charging surprisingly fast in their direction. The monster could crush them to a pulp with its muscular arms only. Running, Heero looked back over his shoulder, seeing the monster getting ready for another fungal shot.

"This way!" he grasped Relena by her hand.

They both took a sharp turn, and the fungus load with spores exploded only a few meters from them. This time it hit the wall of the building, which bent severely and shook dangerously. After a second, the floor again began to tremble, and extensive fragments of the vault started falling from the ceiling.

The building was collapsing. One of the inner walls fell inside with a loud bang, followed by a weakened granite wall that was supporting the structure. In the very last moment, Heero and Relena managed to reach the half-open door and get out of the building. They ran through the car park towards the gas station without looking back, without paying attention to the desperate screams of the Bloater and other infected dying under the rubble of granite construction.

Once they ran outside, they both took their masks off their faces. Being finally able to breathe normally, they didn't slow down until they reached their horses. Both the Treaty and Zero that were peacefully resting in the shadow of the gas station seemed surprised at their sudden arrival.

There Heero and Relena finally slowed down, and both fell to the ground on their knees. Soon Heero quickly shifted and sat down, gazing back at a construction disaster left behind them. The whole granite wall of the building collapsed, and now only a cloud of white dust brood over the remaining ashes. The roar of the collapsed structure slowly echoed around the area, but soon there was a grave silence.

Heero caught his breath first and crawled over to Relena. "Relena… Are you all right?"

Relena breathed a few more seconds heavily, then she clenched her teeth, and some inexplicable tension flashed across her face. His heart raced when she looked up at him, her eyes blazing with blue fire.

"Rel-"

Heero didn't even have time to jump back when she packed him a highly accurate and surprisingly painful punch in the face.

The horses jumped in surprise, witnessing the scene in front of them, and the utterly unexpected fight between their riders. Before Heero shook himself entirely out of the shock of the hit, from the corner of his eye, he could see Relena taking the second swing. He managed to grasp her hand by the wrist, but she immediately clenched her other hand into a fist and swung again. He grabbed her other wrist too, stopping the rain of further punches. "Relena, stop."

Relena's eyes clouded with tears, then she dropped her gaze, breathing heavily. He could hear her let out a quiet sob, she unclenched her fists in surrender, and he loosened his grip on her wrists too, slowly lowering her hands down to his lap. "Stop it. We survived. It's okay."

"It's not okay! You're an IDIOT!" Relena suddenly cried, but without looking up at him. Her face was covered by a curtain of her golden, tangly hair. "What the hell were you thinking of going inside?! You mustn't risk your life like that! Do you realize what would happen if you... if...!"

He felt her hands tremble under his touch and felt terrible for making her cry so bad. Her shoulders shook with each sob, tension, and fear that she experienced in that dark corridor were slowly leaving her body. Ever so naturally, Heero opened his arms for her to let her nestle against his chest.

"You mustn't die!" he heard Relena's breaking voice, while her tears were soaking his shirt and she pounded with her fist against his chest. "You _now_ have _someone_ to live for... you get it…?"

He let out a sigh, holding her closer, and gently stroking her back, musing her words in silence. _Of course_, she was someone he wanted to live for. He realized that. Now that she was crying in his arms, there was no point in explaining himself and upsetting her even more. He knew, however, that if something threatened her, he would still never hesitate to take every risk needed.

"I'm sorry," Heero whispered eventually, kissing the top of her head, feeling her body slowly relaxing under his touch.

When Relena finally stopped crying, he lifted her chin slightly up and brushed the tangled golden hair from her tearful face, stroking her delicate, moist cheek. Her beautiful oceanic eyes were filled with fatigue, but also a relief.

"You were extremely brave, back there. I am so proud of you."

Relena smiled sadly back at his nontypical kudos, then dropped her gaze with a weary sigh. "Just don't make me do this anymore."

"Deal."

They rested a little bit longer in the shade of the gas station, gazing at the ruins of the granite building on the other side of the street, regaining their strength. When they both mounted the horses, the sun already began to set, and a pleasant evening's chill was filling the air. Beetles started to make noise in the bushes nearby, and the birds' sounds died down. A magical aura of dusk embraced the world.

Heero directed Zero to the middle of the intersection, where he looked high above, at the road signs hanging over the boulevard. Among the green boards with the names of the coastal towns, one caught his attention.

"Which way now?" he heard Relena's voice from behind as she approached him on Treaty.

Eventually, taking his eyes off the road signs, Heero looked over his shoulder at Relena and sent her a gentle look from behind his messy bangs, feeling a mysterious, shy smile forming on his face.

"What?" Relena asked, amused, smiling back.

"Want us to take the scenic route?"

x x x

_Meanwhile, in Evergreen_

_._

"Look what the tide dragged in!"

"Fall in! Don't open the gates without order!"

The guys of Evergreen that were now on their watch duty quickly filled passage on the top of the high wall. Climbing two steps at a time, Trowa Barton also ran after them, and once he reached the top, he looked at the driveway in front of the gate.

In the moist and intense heat of the noon, an emaciated animal, which once could be called a horse, was slowly approaching the gates. The creature acted as if it was losing strength and was soon to fall over. An equally wrecked-looking rider rode on the horse's back, resting against its neck. The rider's arms and legs hung loosely on both sides of horses' body... in fact, only _one arm_ and two legs... The horse's front left leg was covered with dried blood, a flock of flies was buzzing around.

It was indeed a demonish, portentous image.

"What the hell?" one of the guards muttered, startled.

"It's a corpse? Corpse on the horse?"

Suddenly the _corpse_ shifted and, with only one hand, lifted up the upper part of its body on the horse's back, looking up at the gates. Trowa shuddered as he looked directly into the rider's bloodshot eyes sticking out of the bony face...

"Help..." the corpse whispered with a fatigued, but so alive voice.

Even the smallest movement was too much for the horse. The animal suddenly let out a grunt, then sank to its knees and fell over sideways. The rider fell from the horse's back, bouncing against the ground with a quiet groan of pain, while the poor animal fell forever silent. The figure of the rider was slim and delicate - it was now apparent to the Evergreen guards that the rider… was a woman.

"We should help her…"

"She doesn't look good…"

Trowa looked down, gritting his teeth. Just like many times before, now again, opening the gates for a newcomer was a considerable risk that he shouldn't take so carelessly. At the same time, refusing help would mean that the woman would surely die at their doorstep...

Then suddenly, the wounded woman sat on her knees, and trying to stand up, looked at the top of the wall. Her face was barely visible from behind the curtain of tangled, sweaty hair.

"I'm begging you... Help me..."

"Who are you, and where do you come from?" Trowa shouted over the wall barrier.

The woman staggered on uncertain knees, clutching at her still covered with dirty, bloody bandage arm's stump. "I'm not infected... I came here... all the way from Houston..."

Trowa felt a cold shiver run through his body. "What… happened to you?"

"Please… water…"

Trowa immediately ordered a bucket of water to be lowered down on the rope for a woman and sent somebody for Quatre. After a short moment, when the woman slaked her first thirst, Quatre already reached the top of the wall, brushing his sweaty blonde bangs away from eye line.

"What's going on?" Quatre asked, frowning down at the woman as he took his place next to Trowa. He was visibly shocked by her condition and shuddered involuntarily. "What do we know so far?"

"She didn't say almost anything yet," Trowa muttered hesitantly.

Quatre's hands clutched the wooden barrier, and then he concentrated his gaze on the woman again. "I am Quatre, the leader of this community. We will only be able to let you in if we are sure that you are not infected. We will help you, but you must tell us where you came from... and what happened to you."

The woman lifted her face from a bucket of water that already turned red of her own blood, then she gazed absentmindedly towards her cut left arm. "They took it... Later they were supposed to take my brain…"

These words evoked a murmur of terror and disbelief between the men above. Quatre frowned at Trowa with horror in his eyes. "Do you understand anything about this?"

Trowa narrowed his eyes. "She said earlier... that she came here from Houston."

At those words, Quatre's face went white with fear, then he leaned over the wall, shouting in the woman's direction.

"Who did this to you?! Where in Houston?!"

The woman barely raised her head again, looking up with black eyes. "Please… I'm tired..."

"Talk!" Quatre shouted, his voice now visibly nervous. "Were you in the laboratories in Houston?!"

The woman staggered on her knees, slumping on the backs of her feet. She had no longer the strength to keep her hand over her stump. When she nodded, Quatre narrowed his eyes. "The Fireflies?" he asked. "Were there the Fireflies?"

The woman's pupils widened in fear, her breath visibly accelerated.

"They killed everyone who objected... a few agreed to cooperate with them... but we were also... eventually..." The woman clutched her cut arm again. "Please… help me…"

Then she fell over on the ground, losing consciousness.

Trowa turned around to face his men. "Choose a volunteer from among you. You have to go down to her and, while she is unconscious, dress her wound. We cannot let her in today... we don't know exactly what they did to her..."

The guys from Evergreen didn't have to be told more than once, and they immediately spread out to their duties.

Trowa turned back to Quatre, clenching both fists so hard that his knuckles were almost turning white. "They carry out experiments. On living people," Trowa summed up in a grim voice.

"Dearest God…" Quatre sighed, covering his face with his hands. "Relena…! Heero…!"

.

* * *

TBC

Heero's experiences with masks were based on my experiences with the mask during the Coronavirus pandemic. I had a couple of occasions when I had to speak a long speech while wearing a mask, and it was excruciating for me.

"The Last of Us - Part II" is finally out! I have been doing nothing all weekend but playing! It's definitely an outstanding game… if you didn't play it yet, I highly recommend it (but ONLY after playing the first part).

For the next chapter, I'm planning a short piece of fluff. Stay tuned.

Thank you, my dear readers, and reviewers.

~enelle


	39. Chapter 39 - The Sea x

**Chapter 39 - The Sea**

_September_

_Heero POV_

_._

After another two weeks, Heero and Relena reached the town of Cameron, Louisiana, and from there, they could already easily spot the gray waters of the Gulf of Mexico. When they passed through the silent and calm city, they followed a straight road along the waterfront, heading west. It was a land of picturesque, green plains and marshlands that were stretching on both sides of their trail, a kingdom of various kinds of birds whose countless black V-formations flew against the blueness of the sky. Sometimes the asphalt abruptly ended, vanishing in the depths of swamps so frequent in this region - in those moments, Heero kept turning towards the seafront, and soon he guided them out to the sandy coast.

Heavy and ominously dark storm clouds were slowly approaching from the land towards the bay but were still distant. They already heard the first distant thunders over the swamps that illuminated the dark cumulonimbuses from the inside out. Heero figured they still had at least a few hours before the storm would have reached the coast.

"It's so beautiful here. Can you smell it, Heero?" Heero suddenly heard Relena say. She sent him a warm smile as the hot summer wind brushed her hair away from her cheeks. She took a deep breath, exhaled, and relaxed her body, sitting comfortably in her saddle and stroking Treaty's mane. "I love this fresh and salty smell of the ocean."

Heero said nothing at her words but looked away, in the direction of the far west again. They were approaching the border between the states of Louisiana and Texas; all they had to do was to go along the bay and then turn right onto one of the entry roads to the city of Houston. He realized that they were already so close to the goal they had set up so many months ago. And yet, something was unwaveringly bothering him, keeping him on high alert despite the idyllic landscape.

He furrowed his eyebrows, unsure what to think. It was hard to acknowledge that they were able to make their way through the whole country and manage to stay alive despite everything that they had encountered...

"Heero."

He turned his head and gazed at Relena. "Hn?"

"What's wrong with you? Didn't you hear what I was saying?"

"I was," Heero muttered shortly, then looked away from her again. The disturbing and conflicted thoughts in his head wouldn't leave him alone. It bothered him that the anxiety which had been tormenting him for several days already was tangible to her - like this tempest approaching them from the north. "…we should reach some beach resort in a few more kilometers. Maybe we'll find shelter from the rain there."

He didn't look at her but urged Zero to go faster and passed her by. Relena said nothing at his words and sped up Treaty to follow him.

After an hour or so, they arrived at a resort of the folksy sounding name 'Holly Beach.' It consisted of several shattered houses built on stilts and decaying caravans scattered on the vast plain, on the edge of the broad, sandy beach. Almost all lodges were on the verge of collapsing, except one. Unlike others, this one stood on reinforced concrete stilts, on a very slight hill, which was probably not flooded during more significant storms and surges. It was the only suitable place for shelter.

The storm still didn't catch up with them, but it enveloped the beach and the resort from the north with a tight wall of dark clouds reaching all the way to the horizon. Relena wanted to approach the ocean, and Heero couldn't refuse her that. Before they settled in the house, they headed together to the beach along an old gravel path, blocked by broken energy poles.

The very moment they reached the sand, Relena dismounted her horse and started taking off her shoes.

"Come on, Heero!" she encouraged him cheerfully, as her bare feet sank into the white sand. Then she unbuttoned her long denim pants and took them off, staying in the flannel, checkered shirt, a bit over her size. She reached the buttons of her shirt too, as if she wanted to undo them, but stopped in half a step and, in the end, didn't take it off.

Heero followed her joyful movements with his gaze as Relena ran across the beach and approached the water. As she ran, she let her long, honey-blonde hair down, and her each step churned a small cloud of sand up in the air. Her long, slender legs were the color of white sand that she was walking on - ivory-like. Heero slowly stepped down from Zero and, grabbing Zero, and Treaty by their bridles, led both horses towards the seashore. When he reached the line of wet sand, he released the horses, and they both immediately ran into the water, joyfully cooling their fetlocks.

Relena also got into the knee-deep water, then approached both horses, and splashed them with fresh water. The air around them flickered from thousands of droplets. Heero slumped on the edge of the waterline, throwing a heavy backpack off his shoulders with a low grunt. Cautiously watching Relena, he dipped his fingers into the wet sand, feeling it grate as he clenched his fist.

Their journey was coming to an end. With every day closer to Houston, Relena was happier. However, Heero realized that for him, Houston had long ceased to matter more than a cross on the map. It was the road that was important - because she was with him on this road. Could he expect her to stay by him even after he fulfills his promise? If there really was hope for humanity lies in Houston, what would happen to them when the world would begin to change?

He wiped his eyes with a soft grunt; he was tired. He couldn't sleep at night, repeatedly woken up because of his nightmares from the past. In his dreams, he kept seeing the suffering of the war in which he took part as a teenager, he experienced this anguish again, this hopelessness and loss of the will to live. And during the day, Quatre's words - those about the unknown luring in Houston - were tormenting him, returning with increasing strength with each kilometer closer to this damn city. And yet... every morning he would get up and move on.

Immersed in his dark thoughts, Heero observed as the receding waves formed small, foamy swirls and vortices around Relena's ankles… like hundreds of white cords trying to pull her deep into the ocean's depths…

"You're not coming?"

Her cheerful voice pulled him into reality again. He looked up and shook his head. Relena shrugged, then started walking in the shallow water along the seashore when she suddenly stopped abruptly and crouched, pulling something out of the water. She stood for a moment in the water, holding a small, bright, wet object in her hands. Heero kept gazing at her, thinking that in this view - of her standing in the shoal, in a long shirt, with her hair tangled by the wind - there was something genuinely divine, that had the mysterious power to deter his dark thoughts away. As if she were a smoldering wick of a candle in a dark room.

Then Relena turned around and walked out of the water and stood right next to Heero. "Look. There are plenty of them at the bottom!"

Heero hesitantly picked up the cowry shell given to him by Relena. It was tiny, not bigger than a cherry, but glowed with a pale pink color and was covered on top orange spots, and its moist surface glistened in the daylight.

"...Pretty," Heero sighed silently, twiddling the shell in his hands.

Relena narrowed her eyes, then knelt down in front of him, giving him a cautious glare. "You're apparently in a bad mood today. Why wouldn't you tell me what's going on in this head of yours?"

He looked at her but didn't say anything at her question. He wasn't sure what he could tell her - how to define what was bothering him... How to explain this mixture of relief and uncertainty, gratitude and fear that he felt at the same time whenever she was near. How could he admit to her that he _didn't know_ what awaited them in Houston... and that knowing this fact made him unable to sleep peacefully at night, but during the day, incessantly commanded him to push west. Or maybe he should confess to her that he had foreboding, which he couldn't base on any reliable facts, but only on nightmares?

Relena's gaze softened as if she had just read his mind. The wind tangled her golden strands of hair around her slender neck, several delicate freckles appeared on the bridge of her shapely nose. Without any other word, Relena combed his long bangs out of his eye line in a heartwarming gesture that made him want to fuck this whole journey and stay here, with her, forever on this beach.

Regaining his composure, Heero looked down again, fixing his eyes on the shell in his hands. "...do you still have this strap for hair that you got from Cathy?" Relena nodded. "Bring it to me."

As Relena approached Treaty, Heero pulled a knife from his bosom and dug a small hole in the back of the shell, careful not to destroy it. When Relena brought the strap, he wrapped the cowries around the cord, then uncertainly looked up at Relena.

"Turn around," he asked her.

The look in her eyes told him that she was a little bit taken aback, but then she knelt right next to him and turned around, brushing her hair back from her nape.

The wind increased, and echoing sounds of the approaching storm reverberated around them when Heero carefully tied a thin, leather band with a seashell around her neck. When he finished, Relena turned to face him and touched the delicate necklace dangling on her chest. "Now it's _beautiful_," she whispered, smiling broadly. "Thank you."

"Yeah," Heero grunted, and at that moment, the rain began to mark hundreds of tiny, wet spots on the white sand around them. Heero stood up and helped Relena up. "The storm's here. Let's go."

x

_Relena POV_

_._

The beach around them disappeared behind a curtain of the gray, torrential downpour that finally reached the coast after chasing after them for the whole day. The porch they both ran onto was empty except for a few old ropes and abandoned bird nests, and its wooden construction creaked with each step. Dripping wet, but finally, under the roof, Relena wrung out her hair and the flanges of her flannel shirt in her hands, releasing streams of water on the floor, amazed by the intensity of the rain. Even her pants and shoes that she held in her hands were thoroughly soaked.

"I will go check this house," she heard Heero's voice behind her. "Stay here."

Relena looked back, gazing at Heero, who was already shearing off one of the wooden planks from the broken window. The old, punk wood fell to pieces under his fingers, and he tossed it away. "Please, be careful."

Heero glanced at her briefly and nodded knowingly, then slipped inside through the window, disappearing on the other side.

Standing on the porch, Relena realized that it was getting colder, she felt goosebumps appear on her bare, still wet thighs. The wind increased, blowing more water sideways, under the roof. From beneath the porch, she could hear Treaty and Zero's nervous neighing - the thunders apparently scared the horses that stood below, under the piles of the cabin structure. A calm, sunny day turned into a distant, almost blurred memory. Massive dark clouds thickened around the coast, and bolts of lightning were striking more and more often.

Waiting for Heero, Relena moved as close as possible to the house wall and looked west. Houston was already so close... They had crossed the whole continent. All they needed to do was to enter the city and find the laboratories, pass them the vaccine... Was that all? Looking far ahead, Relena played with the seashell hanging on her neck, and her left hand went imperceptibly to her underbelly. When they embarked on this journey, she wouldn't have thought that so much would have changed...

Then she heard the twang of the lock as Heero opened the door from the inside. She quickly lifted a hand from her lap and looked at him as he stood at the doorway to the house. "It's clear. Come on in," he said gently, opening the door wide for her, and Relena walked in.

The interior was almost intact. The living room was bathed in a twilight since half of the windows were shut and boarded. The walls were painted with dark moisture stains, the floor under the carpet was curved of humidity and creaked loudly under every step. In the corners of the room laid piles of sand, probably blown inside by the strong wind. Every horizontal surface was covered with a thick layer of white dust, but everything seemed surprisingly tidy. It was evident that nobody had been there for so many years already.

Heero locked the door behind them and walked into the smaller room, from where he soon returned with blue towels. "Believe it or not, but they are still dry. And _almost_ not eaten by moths and mold."

Relena chuckled at his words, taking one of the towels from him with a short 'thank you.' In the middle of the living room stood a comfortable looking sofa. Relena came up to it and sat down, drying her hair and body with a towel.

"If you're cold, I'll light up a fire," Heero offered.

"No need to. When the wind's not blowing, it's warm," Relena replied, combing her hair, then looked around the room. "Quite cozy here. When I was little, I wanted to have a cottage by the sea like that."

Heero sat in the chair under the opposite wall, between the entrance door and the ruined TV. He gazed intently at her from behind the curtain of his unruly, wet bangs. "The Peacecraft family didn't have their summer estate of sorts?"

"We had. But I didn't like that place," Relena replied, wiping her thighs and legs with a towel. "It was a huge manor with several bedrooms and bathrooms, even with stables. And I always wanted to have an ordinary, cozy, even one-room house... as close to the sea as possible." She looked up at Heero and smiled warmly. "Like this one."

When their eyes met, Heero suddenly dropped his gaze and began to wipe his head with a towel. Relena felt her chest tighten as she realized that he had been running away from her look too often today. She sensed that something was bothering him, but she couldn't make him talk despite all her efforts. She could tell by the evident signs of tiredness on his face that Heero slept poorly again. She guessed that his nightmares must have had returned.

Relena stared at Heero while he ran his hands through his unruly hair, brushing his far too long bangs from his eyes. She realized that his hair had grown a lot in recent weeks. The bangs were already reaching behind his nose line, covering his ears and evidently disturbed him…

An idea came to her mind.

"Heero, do you still have some scissors?" Relena asked, and when Heero nodded, she put down her towel next to her on the sofa and held out her hand to him. "Gimme them."

When Heero obediently took a pair of scissors from his backpack and walked over to her, handing them to her, Relena grabbed his hand and smiled at him. "Please sit down here," she asked him, gently tugging his hand.

A little unsure about her actions, Heero slowly turned his back on her and sat down on the floor, leaning back against the couch, between Relena's legs. Relena moved closer to him, resting her feet on the floor on both sides of his body, and then tangled her fingers in his lush, damp hair. "You already have such long hair... they don't bother you?"

Heero didn't answer, which probably must have been some kind of answer to her question. Relena smiled to herself, still dipping her fingers in his hair, sensing the bones of his skull under the palm of her hand. Heero's usual chocolate-colored hair now turned dark brown from the water. Relena repeatedly combed his thick hair, looking from where it should be cut.

"Don't worry, I won't uglify you," Relena laughed nervously. "I was trimming my dad's hair for years..."

"It's okay. I trust you," Heero replied, sitting still.

Relena smiled to herself with relief. Somewhere near them, the lightning struck, and the whole house was filled with the lulling rumbling of the rain incessantly hitting the roof. Relena began to wind individual strands on her fingers, and unfalteringly started trimming the exceeding strands. _Snip-snip_. Then she combed Heero's hair again and took another strand between her fingers. _Snip-snip. Snip-snip_. Soon numerous small pieces of chocolate hair began to fall on Heero's shoulders, his chest, on her feet, and on the floor around them. _Snip-snip, snip-snip_.

"I'm in love with your hair…" Relena whispered after a moment of silence, almost dreamily, smiling, but then she heard Heero making a short snort. She chuckled, surprised. "What? I meant it."

"Oh yeah?" Heero teased, without turning to look back at her. "Look who's talking."

"But that was an honest compliment! And I don't require getting another one in return."

"…Okay," Heero sighed but didn't say anything more.

Relena fell silent, smiling to herself, figuring out that she probably won the argument. She leaned over Heero's head and brushed his bangs up, trimming them neatly. _Snip-snip, snip-snip_.

"I could recite further…" she whispered as her scissors continued to make a repetitive _snip-snip _sound. "I love… so many other things about you."

Another strand of hair… _snip-snip. _Tangled, cut strands kept falling on top of Heero's arms and then silently down on the dusty floor. Plunging her fingers in Heero's hair, Relena continued with a soft voice. "You have beautiful, captivating eyes, powerful arms… strong, empathetic heart… I feel safe by your side. I admire your courage."

The storm was intensifying, and the lightning struck already close enough that its flash illuminated the interior of the house. Relena briefly looked out the window, then took another strand of Heero's hair in her hands. She was almost done. _Snip-snip._ _Snip-snip_…

"…is there anything you're afraid of?" she asked absentmindedly.

He was still silent, but she suddenly felt the brush of his hand against the skin of her calf, and then her knee. Heero's warm fingers wrapped around her knee, gently massaging it, and then Heero looked back at Relena over his shoulder. His blue eyes were obscured by a much more powerful storm than the one that raged outside their windows. With his predatory gaze never leaving her eyes, he slid his hand up the top of her thigh so softly yet intensely enough that she got goosebumps again.

When he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, Relena dropped the scissors and slipped down the couch, landing on his lap and straddling him.

Gazing at her from behind the clearly shorter, though still handsome and picturesque fringe, Heero dipped his hand in her long hair, and pressing his hand to the back of her head, he brought her close until their lips joined together. With a silent moan, Relena opened her mouth, letting him in, surrendering entirely to his passionate kiss, which told more about this wild and rampant feeling between them than thousands of spoken and written words in all the most magnificent poems that humanity ever knew.

She closed her eyes and returned the rough kiss, moving even closer to him on his lap and sliding her hands over his shoulders and torso. Wet clothes clung to his body, so she grabbed the fabric of his shirt and pulled over his head. His skin was pleasantly warm, even hot to the touch as if it was warmed up with hot coals. Running her hands over his bruises and scars that she already knew by heart, Relena fervently kissed him again, pressing her body against his, as Heero locked his arms around her waist. Aligning her body with his, she felt his desire pulsing under her very soon, and she felt a familiar heat building up in her stomach. Then she felt Heero's hands sliding over her thighs, gently increasing pressure, up to her belly, where he slipped his hands under the material of her flannel shirt...

Realizing what was happening, Relena broke the kiss and deftly grabbed him by both hands, stopping him from further discovering her body. Her eyes shot open to meet Heero's gaze as he was looking back at her. In the depths of his blue eyes, she could already see the creeping consternation…

"Heero..." Relena sighed, releasing his hands and unbuttoned her flannel shirt from the top, exposing her breasts, but leaving the last buttons over her stomach.

The pregnancy eventually started reshaping her body. Her small breasts have now become fuller than ever. They also became much more sensitive to touch, almost painful... She had already noticed it, but breasts weren't a problem. She had discovered the subtle curves that appeared on her bosom, rounding her belly only slightly… but noticeably. During the day, she managed to hide it under her clothes, and keep her condition invisible to him. But without her clothes, it was so clearly outlined... that he could notice it.

Closing her eyes, Relena pressed his hands to her breasts, feeling relieved as Heero's fingers started squeezing them, and after a while, he bowed his face down to her, gently kissing and sucking her nipples. His every touch felt so sensible on her skin that it almost hurt.

Fumbling at the buttons of his pants, Relena released him and slowly, gently slid onto him. With a low, huskily sigh, Heero wrapped his arms around her waist, bringing her closer to him, silently nestling his face against her chest. Then he froze, clinging to her like a helpless child, not uttering a single word, his chest thundering with an erratic heartbeat.

Relena sighed of pleasure, stilling in his firm embrace and with his throbbing desire deep inside her. She pressed his head to her, gently stroking the back of his neck. She realized the man she loved so much was harassed for so many years by his own demons. So fearless in the face of worst threats walking on this earth, this time, he couldn't find the strength to look up at her.

"I know, what you're so afraid of," she whispered with an airy voice, kissing the top of his head. She inhaled the rain-wet air, feeling the moisture settle on her neck and shoulders. "Don't… I won't turn into another one of your nightmares."

His body trembled under her touch, and she gently lifted his head up, keeping his face between her hands. When their eyes met, his eyes were smoldering, and his gaze was dimmed as if he was a lost man. Relena brushed his hard cheek with her thumb, feeling him flinch even at that gentle gesture.

"We made our promise, right?" she whispered without waiting for his answer and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. "No matter what happens… you won't lose me."

She bowed her head, kissing his lips tenderly and moving her hips. The wetness was still rising in the junction of their bodies, and soon she felt Heero placing his strong hands around her buttocks, controlling her slow, but passionate movements. Relena threw her head back, clenching her thighs around his hips and letting out a moan of pleasure as she felt him thrust inside her.

x

The rain was still beating against the roof of their hideout, a storm raged outside the window. The air inside the home was trembling, almost dense of the weather's humidity and their hot breaths. The couch in the center of the room was undoubtedly intended for one user, but it didn't bother them at all. They were laying together, their bodies entwined with each other, cooling off from their just burning lust.

Taking a deep breath, Relena parted her eyelids, and seeing the usual stark, thoughtful blueness of his eyes, she smiled.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Heero adjusted his head on the armrest of the couch, his eyes closely tracking her features, then slightly shook his head as if after a short consideration. "Nah… They're not worth a penny."

Relena sighed, though the smile never left her face. Still resting her head on his outstretched arm, she rolled onto her side and raised her hand, stroking his temple.

"Well… I have to say, Heero… That of all the places where we have been staying so far, this is my genuinely favorite."

"Is it?" he asked, his voice sounding genuinely surprised. "Why not Evergreen?"

Relena bit her lip and pondered. "Evergreen is… almost perfect. It's just too far away from the sea."

The thunder hit somewhere in the distance; the storm was slowly passing by. The atmosphere inside the house was thoroughly cozy, and Relena realized that she could stay in this place for the rest of her life; on this couch. With this man.

She gently brushed the hair back from his forehead. "I didn't think I'd ever been so happy. I didn't think it was still possible in this world," she whispered, caressing his cheek and the side of his neck.

Then the calm, blue surface of Heero's eyes trembled for the second time this evening, revealing an agitated hurricane of emotions raging in his heart. Relena learned all these months to read these small signals of his. She already recognized those fleeting moments when his feelings penetrated the barriers of his controlled mind and heart: a twitch of the corner of his mouth, a soft touch of his fingers, a shy flash in his eye...

Then he suddenly grabbed her hand in his, drawing it closer to his heart.

"All those times you kept asking me," he suddenly whispered, "why I didn't kill you that night when you were bitten."

Relena was silent, captivated by the stark look of his bottomless eyes. She allowed him to continue, squeezing back his hand, as she realized that he thought back to _that night_, full of shooting stars.

"If I had killed you then… an instant later, I would've put a bullet in my brain."

His eyes were evidence that he was dead serious. Relena gazed at him sadly, then opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, he broke in.

"Not because of pain. Because of self-loathing," Heero explained, brushing his thumb over Relena's cheek and then down over her almost invisible wound on the side of her neck. His pupils were quivering, he furrowed his eyebrows as if fighting for every word he spoke out loud. "I would've murdered the only good thing in my life with my own hands. I wouldn't have had any more right to live on after pulling the trigger on you."

Relena felt that she had to interfere. "It was me. I asked you to kill me, Heero. You would have done it out of mercy-"

"It would have been a mere execution that I had carried on _a lot_ in my life, always telling myself the same thing, telling myself that it was for mercy… I didn't want to become _this_… again."

His low voice trembled, overload with emotions that he could hardly tame. Relena realized that all this time when he wasn't answering her question, he was trying to _understand_ what happened to him that night. He couldn't understand and couldn't explain it either to himself either to her... until now.

It was simultaneously a shocking and beautiful moment.

"I left you alone in that cabin, waiting for you to turn, listening to every murmur or rustle that morning…" Heero's voice broke, he swallowed. "You could have suffered the transition, scream, tremble, lost control over your body, and I was unable to even to shorten your suffering. I hated myself for this paralysis, for this stalemate, which I couldn't breach. But then… when the next day you came out of the cabin, still alive and healthy… for the first time since I can remember, I felt hope."

She breathed a sigh of relief. It was worth waiting. She realized that if Heero had told her that he didn't kill her because he loved her, she wouldn't believe him. They surely went a long way before realizing their feelings.

"You saved me… in so many ways…" Heero whispered, kissing the top of her hand.

When he raised his gentle deep eyes on her, Relena felt tears well up in her eyes, but she wasn't going to stop them. She knew Heero would never t cry. She handled all right with the thought that she might cry for both of them.

She squeezed his hand back and smiled, though the first tear already ran down her cheek.

"…I think I owe you a penny, after all."

* * *

TBC

I did it. I have reached a point in a story that I call _the beginning of the end_. We're approaching Houston. Soon everything will be clear.

My dear readers, you have waited a long time for an update, I apologize for that. I had a lot of work on one-shot; the good news is that it will be published soon. Also, another idea for a story recently came to my mind, but don't be afraid - I will definitely finish this story first.

Stay healthy and safe,

~enelle


	40. Chapter 40 - The Space City

**Chapter 40 - The Space City**

_WARNING: Violent scenes ahead, until the end of the story__._

_Three more weeks later_

_Heero POV_

_._

His eyes shot open, and he held his breath. _That sound again_… He sharpened his hearing, silenced his heartbeat, and listened to the silence interrupted only by the even and calm Relena's breathing.

After a moment of silence, Heero lifted his head only slightly from the bed, looking around carefully, then sat straight. He felt the difference in temperature as a warm blanket under which they slept slipped off his shoulders and gazed down at deeply sleeping Relena. As usual, she slept with back to him, in his arms. His movement caused her to murmur quietly, but she didn't wake up.

The room he had chosen for their hideout was certainly empty, still plunged in darkness. Refreshing night air burst in through the ajar balcony door, gently but silently swinging the old curtains. The building where it was located seemed safe, too: a locked-up building (probably an old hotel with almost all the rooms locked before the pandemic), with no sign of the infected in the single staircase.

He was sure he hadn't misheard. Restlessly, Heero looked around the room once more, listening carefully, then slipped out from under the thin blanket and gingerly got out of the bed, which creaked softly with his every move. With a soft moan, Relena huddled up, wrapping the blanket tightly around herself. He looked at her fondly; she was tired of the road, she deserved a rest. He leaned over to adjust the blanket around her and planted a gentle kiss on the top of her shoulder, then stood up and strolled toward the balcony door.

He grasped his revolver from his backpack and got through the delicate curtains, carefully moving on bent knees. The balcony was small, and its balustrade was covered with a wooden plate. It blocked the view, but also made him invisible from the outside. The place was dirty with all kinds of rubbish and still smelled with urine - it used to be a sniper station, but the tracks proved that no one had been here for many months.

It was the middle of the night, the whole world was plunged in pleasant silence, Heero couldn't even hear the squeaking of mice or bats. As he stepped onto the balcony, dry leaves blown by the wind and fine debris crunched under his feet. He walked over to the railing and listened for a moment longer before peeking out above the wooden cover. Their building was located in the northwest of the city, next to the Police Department Memorial, and from there, they could see the beautiful panorama of downtown Houston skyscrapers - once called The Space City. When they had found this place yesterday, Relena gazed speechlessly at the sight of those slender, almost undamaged and untouched by time skyscrapers, whose glass surfaces beautifully reflected the rays of the setting sun. From here, the majestic city definitely showed its most magnificent side.

Crouching by the balustrade, Heero listened, clutching his gun in his hand and looking a little over the balcony railing. In the east, the sky was still dark, but glass skyscrapers gleamed, reflecting the pale light of the new moon hidden behind gray clouds. A gentle breeze rustled through the treetops of the surrounding trees, carrying the fresh scent of the river and Trinity Bay. At the side of their building, hidden behind a tarpaulin, stood Treaty and Zero, resting quietly. The street in front of the building was empty; at one point, only a stray dog ran through it, barely stopping.

Heero looked away again towards the skyscrapers. They'd been in town for an over a week now, scouring district by district in search of labs. The fact that they still couldn't find them could mean only two things: one good and one bad. The good news could be that the Fireflies hadn't been able to get here before them and occupy the labs, which allowed them to feel rather safe after the Atlanta events. But the bad news was that maybe there was no sign of the laboratories only because they simply never existed here…

After a moment, Heero stiffened as he heard _that sound_ again... an offbeat, dull clatter, followed by a short, broken rustle…

He peered over the railing again, looking around when he suddenly noticed something in the distance that he hadn't seen before: a twinkling pale light reflected from among the gleaming skyscrapers. Heero strained his eyes and realized that there were several lights, and they were moving.

Heero watched the lights for a long moment; those were the first traces of life they had ever encountered in Houston. He counted no more than ten individual lights, moving quite briskly, perhaps on horseback or on some vehicles; the horses were more likely because he couldn't hear any engine whirring in the distance. The group moved diagonally to the west of their hideout.

Then he heard the mysterious noise again... this time much closer, somewhere downstairs... Heero leaned over the balcony but could see nothing except for the unevenly parked cars in the driveway of the building and their horses. He cursed softly under his breath, unable to figure out what the hell was making that sinister, haunting sound, then looked far in front of him again.

The distant lights disappeared. Heero felt a lump growing in his chest and alarming prickles running down his spine.

Something was definitely wrong. Until he found out what was going on here, they weren't safe here.

Heero returned to the room and walked over to the bed, intending to wake Relena up, but hesitated as he stopped at their bed. Relena snuggled into the thin quilt, her legs tucked to her chest, her honey-blond hair spilled over the pillow. She slept so soundly that he had no heart to wake her up. He reached and gently stroked her shoulder with his fingers, then carefully moved away, and, reaching for his backpack, he walked silently out of the room.

When he thought back to that moment later that day, he cursed himself a hundred times for not having thought of locking the goddamn door behind him.

Could he have predicted what would happen?

Perhaps he could have.

Small decisions sometimes happen to affect our lives much more than we would expect from their superficial importance.

Once outside their room, Heero didn't want to use his flashlight, wishing to stay in the shadow. The corridor was narrow and littered with all kinds of rubbish. He patiently waited for his eyes to adjust to the darkness that prevailed here. The way up the stairs was blocked entirely, the only way was down the stairs. Under his feet, three black mice raced past him, disappearing around the corner of the hall. Finally, noticing the outline of the staircase, Heero tucked his revolver behind his belt and pulled the shotgun from his backpack. Holding it in front of him, he approached the stairs, listening.

Annoyingly, the sound didn't return this time. Heero slowly walked down the stairs, keeping close to the wall and holding the shotgun in front of him. The second floor was also bathed in Egyptian darkness, broken glass from overturned vending machines was crunching under Heero's feet. Down the corridor, the wind rumbled through leaky or damaged windows; somewhere, water was steadily dripping from some hole. Still looking around carefully, Heero inspected the floor, but finding nothing suspicious, descended even lower, all the way down to the entrance hall.

Though he moved carefully and slowly, his footsteps echoed hollowly in the empty reception hall. The throbbing, loud thunder of his own blood pumped far too fast through his heart almost deafened him. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled of the unstoppable, subliminal impression that he wasn't alone in this room.

He reloaded the shotgun, and it made a loud, way too loud crack. It sounded like a thunder in the dark and empty hall. Heero studied the interior intently, examining every piece of furniture, every shadow, trying to see around every corner. The puddles on the floor beneath his feet, brought by yesterday's rain, made a soft splash as he stepped forward, still looking around...

Then he heard the sound he was looking for again… coming from the direction he feared most: from behind his back.

He spun on his heel at the speed of light, aiming at the staircase he had just descended from. The darkness pouring down the stairs was, however, impenetrable; he couldn't see any shape in it.

After a moment, he heard the noise again, this time from the side of the elevators—an uneven, interrupted clatter. Heero stared into the darkness, cold shiver crossing his body. No animal made such an irregular sound. None of the infected were creeping. Only predators crept - and those other than the infected, still walking on this earth, were only humans.

"Come out," Heero called ominously into the darkness.

Nobody answered him, and a second later, he heard a rustle behind him.

"Fuck," he cursed silently.

There were more of them.

He took a step back toward the stairs, still looking around, and eventually found what he was looking for. In the moonlight reflected in the pieces of a shattered mirror on the wall, he noticed a slender shadow flitting from behind the overturned furniture.

He strained his eyes, held his breath, staring at where the sound was coming from, and as soon as the owner of the shadow accidentally leaned out a bit behind the barricade, he aimed and fired. The night's silence was abruptly broken by the roar of the gunshot and the painful moan of a human hit by the bullet.

In an instant, Heero ran towards the intruder and grabbed the half-bent, wounded man by the neck. Positioning himself so that he had only the wall behind his back, Heero pulled the man against him, clenching his arm under his throat so tightly that the man let the air out of his lungs.

"One move, and you'll be scrubbing your brain from the ceiling," Heero growled, pressing the barrel of his revolver under the intruder's jaw.

The man tightened in his grip, then cursed and went limp. Heero pressed him even tighter to him, feeling the wetness of the man's blood from his wound permeate through his clothes. "Talk. How many more of you are here?"

"…Go to hell," the man grunted.

Heero narrowed his eyes, tightening his grip around the man's neck. "Bad answer."

And then chaos broke out.

The room shook with the bang of several gunshots, and bullets whizzed right next to Heero's head. Heero spun around, his arm tightening in an iron grip around the captured man's neck, exposing his body to the fire. Hiding behind this human shield, Heero carefully examined the surroundings, peering over the hostage's shoulder, backing towards the wall.

"The hell you're doing?!" the man shrieked in panic.

"Shut the fuck up."

Then suddenly, figures emerged from the darkness, their drawn rifles glittering ominously in the dim light of the moon plunging through the open front door. Heero felt his pulse speed up as he counted eight men, and more seemed to be still coming out of the dark corners of the room, pointing the barrels of their weapons at him. Plus, he wasn't sure if this group was the one whose lights he saw against the city skyline... or if that group was yet to arrive. Everyone in the group turned on their flashlights, shining a harsh white light in his direction.

"Well, well, well…"

Heero held his breath as he heard a familiar female voice.

The figure of the woman, still pointing the pistol at him, stood up straight, and stepped forward. As she pulled back the hood of her gray sweatshirt, her long platinum hair spilled over her shoulders.

He recognized Dorothy immediately. Silver pendant in the shape of fireflies still hung around her neck.

"I was beginning to worry you would never come to Houston," the woman chuckled. "You made me wait for so long, Heero... I thought I wouldn't see you again. That you stayed in this little shithole in Alabama."

Heero said nothing, still pressing the wounded man to him with an iron hug. His hostage was starting to tear himself away, but Heero held him tight and didn't lose sight of the blonde woman even for a moment.

"You will die, motherf-," the hostage muttered with a grim chuckle, but Heero tightened his arm around the man's neck, preventing him from finishing the sentence.

"One more step, and I will kill him," he warned towards the overwhelmingly advantageous group that was ringing him.

The murderous flash he saw in Dorothy's eyes left him breathless.

"Ah, yes," Dorothy sighed ever so casually. "That piece of shit actually bothers me too. He blocks me the view of your handsome face."

Then she lifted up her gun and, without any hesitation, fired a shot.

The hostage made a throaty sound like a groan of surprise and terror just before the bullet hit him, then grunted, choking on his own blood as the bullet pierced his brain, slamming into the wall just next to Heero's shoulder. Heero soon felt the man go limp in his hands and released him from his grip. The body dropped to the floor, and Heero stood facing Dorothy, his revolver clutched in his hand, staring sinisterly at the barrels of the dozen shotguns aimed at him and ready to shoot.

"Now… That's _much_ better," Dorothy sighed, holding Heero at gunpoint.

Heero stared at everyone from behind his bangs, feeling the flashlights blind him. He looked down at the dead body at his feet, sinking in a growing pool of blood. "He was one of you."

"And what do you know about us?" Dorothy asked with an ominous voice. "Don't make it harder for you or us. Just throw away that gun that you have in your hands."

"What do you want?" Heero growled, ignoring Dorothy's order. He narrowed his eyes as he aggressively measured all the Fireflies around him. He knew he was in a hopeless situation. "More of you out there? I'd have killed you all without any trouble if you didn't blind me with those goddamn flashlights."

He was speaking loud, far too loud than needed, to be sure that his voice would resound throughout the stairwell and reach her... He had to play for time... to give Relena a chance to escape.

"You're a mouthy man. I like that," Dorothy chuckled malevolently. She was still aiming at him, and Heero realized that he should no longer tempt fate. He threw the gun aside; it bounced off the ground with a loud thud. "Get him," Dorothy ordered her men.

As the tall Firefly of an appearance of a thug stepped towards him, Heero felt like an animal in a cage, chased into a dead end. His heart rate sped up painfully in his chest as the thug turned him around in one move and pushed him against the wall like a sack of potatoes. Heero hit the wall with his head, almost losing his balance.

"Bind him," Dorothy said.

Heero tasted a metallic liquid from the split lip in his mouth and let out a low grunt of pain as the man bent his arms back so hard that he almost tore them from his joints. When he pressed his face harder against the wall, Heero felt as if his skull had cracked.

"Search the building."

He shot his eyes open at that Dorothy's order. The only opened doors in the corridor on the second floor… _Relena_…!

Behind his back, Dorothy was giving orders, regrouping her people that were inside the building. Heero didn't hear any other, larger group approaching them. He had to do something.

Standing firmly on his legs, he arched his spine backward, hitting the thug on the nose with the back of his head so hard that he felt bones breaking under the power of his blow.

As the thug stepped back, dazed and groaning in pain, Heero reached into his coat and, grasping the man's pistol, aimed and shot a few shots at the Fireflies that were climbing the stairs to the upper floor.

All shots hit their targets, as usual: the three Fireflies fell to the ground before they could even turn around to face him, and Heero pivoted under the wall… when a sharp, _ever so familiar_, pain in his left upper-body immobilized him in place. The adrenaline rush almost dimmed his vision for a moment, and before he realized what happened, his leg was pierced by the same, blinding pain.

Wounded by two shots, he fell to the ground with a dull thud, releasing the stolen gun from his hand.

"It was so foolish of you," he heard Dorothy's harsh voice above him.

His clothes soaked with his warm blood, shrinking around his body. His breathing was fast, he tried to control it, but he let it all out as he suffered a hard, painful kick in his ribs. Pain radiated throughout his body, and he involuntarily huddled on the floor.

"You want to die so badly? I can't let you…" Dorothy said, then addressed her group. "_Nail_ him down."

Two more Fireflies ran up to him and, with only a few movements, forced him to stand on his feet.

"Get your hands off me!" Heero barked.

He struggled with all his might like a wild animal, but they had an advantage over him; his injured leg and arm refused to obey him.

Without almost any effort, the Fireflies pinned him abruptly against the surface of the wall, blocking his arms. Then, one of them pulled out a long, thick boat nail and unceremoniously dug it in Heero's torso, just below the left collarbone, into the open, fresh gunshot wound.

Heero felt a blinding, piercing pain as the nail first pierced through his flesh. He resisted with all his might, but in vain. After a second, the Fireflies started pounding the nail down with hard blows of a hammer, crushing through his bones and nailing Heero's body to the wall…

x

_Relena POV_

_._

The first shot snapped her out of her sleep.

Her heart pounded in her chest so fast that she was afraid it would pop out. Breathing nervously, she touched the mattress next to her. Her fingers tightened on the cold sheet.

"Heero?" Relena whispered, feeling the anxiety take her breath away. Finally, she began to see the contours of the furniture in the darkened room and then heard the sounds of fighting from below. She felt a slight pain in her lower abdomen; she touched her stomach and slowly rolled off the bed. She had a bad... _horrible_ feeling. "Heero…?"

Still, there was no reply. When Relena reached for her backpack, the whole building shook from the cannonade of gunfire several floors below her. She heard someone scream, and she wasn't sure it was Heero… She felt her palms sweating from the stress as she slung the backpack over her shoulders and walked out of the room.

As she stood in the doorway to the stairwell, she paused, listening, and wondering what she should do. From below, she could hear the fading voices of a few people, but she couldn't make individual words out. She clenched her fists, realizing that her hands were still trembling, then began to silently descend the stairs to the lower floor. She had to find Heero immediately...

As soon as she got down onto the first floor, Relena suddenly heard Heero's voice:

"More of you out there? I'd have killed you all without any trouble if you didn't blind me with those goddamn flashlights."

She was out of breath as she realized what he meant. They were attacked by some group. Heero has been cornered. She pushed herself against the wall, looking down the stairwell, from where the flickering, wavering light of the flashlights was coming.

"You're a mouthy man. I like that. Get him."

She knew that voice... distinctive, high-pitched, melodious... now it sounded more sinister than ever before.

"Bind him. Search the building."

"Oh God," Relena gasped silently, grabbing the railing of the stairs as she heard footsteps approaching the staircase. She could see flashlight beams hitting the stairs a few meters below her, but she was unable to move, unable to run. Where the hell could have run to? She watched helplessly as the silhouette of the first Firefly appeared on the stairs...

... at that moment, she heard a struggle down below, a series of shots, and then the Fireflies' blood spilled onto the stairs. When the fire stopped, Relena heard another two gunshots… and a groan of pain...

_Heero…!_

She was already setting her foot on the stairs when Dorothy spoke again.

"It was so foolish of you. Do you want to die so badly? I can't let you… Nail him down."

_What are they going to do to him...?_

The ground shifted from under her feet, she almost stiffened in terror when she heard his voice...

"Get your hands off me!"

And then... a roar of pain.

His scream was so loud... or maybe it was just her imagination because she had never heard him scream _like that_ before... It was interrupted by a loud thud as if someone was... hammering nails. As she realized this, Relena felt cold of terror... she had to help him...

Relena took a step down the stairs, and at that moment, a pair of strong, male hands gripped her from behind, tightly covering her mouth. The grip was so firm and sudden that she almost lost her balance. She jerked violently, but she couldn't free herself - the arms that gripped her held her tight, like iron hoops.

"Hush now..." she heard a low, very masculine baritone right next to her ear. "You'll ruin our entrance. Now… Here we go…"

Heero's night-splitting scream of pain, coupled with the sounds of subsequent hammer blows, split her brain in two, as she walked slowly down the stairs, guided by a Firefly.

x

_Heero POV_

_._

Every movement, even the faintest, brought him agonizing, excruciating pain.

The nails hammered into his body, and nailing him to the wall, were a genuine instrument of torture. Although he stood still, he couldn't control or stop the involuntary spasms of his adrenaline-pumped and exhausted muscles. Taking a deep breath enlarged his chest, tearing the wound under his collarbone wider, so he kept taking small, hurried breaths, feeling his vision darken from the hypoxia. With one of his legs nailed to the wall just above his knee by another long, boat nail, he kept his weight on only one leg.

"Much better. You finally stopped kicking and screaming."

Through the thunder of the throbbing blood in his ears, he heard Dorothy's shrill voice, but he didn't look up, hiding his gaze behind the bangs falling over his eyes, controlling his breathing. Dorothy stopped only a few centimeters in front of him and tilted his chin up, forcing him to look at her.

"Ah, how I missed the sight of those bold eyes of yours," she muttered, lustfully licking her lips and brushing her thumb over his chin. His jaw was trembling, he was clenching his teeth, but didn't utter a word, nor groaned of pain, though the torment almost made him lose his consciousness. "It's a real pity you didn't want to join us then, in Atlanta... you would have saved us some trouble. Not to mention all those nights when I was missing you."

She let go of his chin, and he ducked his head down. Cold sweat ran down his hot temples; he felt feverish as if he was on the verge of shock. Trying not to think about the pain, he inhaled several times through clenched teeth as he looked around nervously. The rest of the Fireflies were still busy treating the wounds of those he had shot when he grabbed the gun for a moment. Neither of them went to check the rest of the building...

He was sure Relena had heard the shooting. If necessary, he intended to keep them on this floor as long as possible to give Relena the best chance of escaping the building…

"These nails took away some of your sexiness," Dorothy started again, "though I still wouldn't despise you."

"…Go fuck yourself," Heero groaned through clenched teeth.

"Oh, trust me, I did. Too many times, thinking about you," Dorothy answered with a dirty smirk, plunging her hand in his thick hair in a sick, heartwarming gesture. "Now to the business... Since you are here, your gnawed-up doll must also be here somewhere…"

"She's not… here," Heero grunted, catching his breath.

"Somehow, I don't trust you," Dorothy said with a devilish chuckle, nearing him and whispering to his ear. "And I really _hate_… when the man is bullshitting me."

She swung and gave him a painful punch in the gut. Heero's entire body shifted from the impact, rubbing painfully at the iron nails, and he barely choked back a scream... His legs buckled under him, and for a short but unimaginably painful moment, he was left hanging with his whole weight on nails that were boring into his flesh and bones...

Gasping for air, Heero rested his hands against the wall behind his back and threw his head back, pushing himself upwards with only the strength of his hands, trying to reduce the pressure on the nails again. For a moment, he really felt himself losing consciousness - the thought of it was comforting, he wouldn't feel pain anymore, but he knew he couldn't let himself for it…

"So, where is she?"

He opened his eyes to the tall blonde girl standing above him, hands on her hips. He tossed his hair back over his eyes with a sloppy wave of his head and spat blood onto the floor.

"I told you… You're deaf or just dumb…?"

Another blow knocked his head aside so hard that his temple bumped against the wall. The force of the blow made his head spin, but at least his body didn't move against the nails.

"You make me lose any good opinion I still had about you. I'll ask you one last time, Heero," Dorothy continued, pulling out a gun and holding it to Heero's head. "Where is she..."

"Enough, Dorothy."

Heero lifted up his head at the sound of this voice. His eyes widened with terror as he realized what he was seeing.

Relena was standing on the stairs to the hall, her face pale, staring at him with her terrified ocean eyes. He couldn't see her hands or arms, she had them clasped behind her back... A tall, slim man stood right behind her. He had long, waist-length platinum hair, even lighter than Dorothy's. Long, unruly bangs framed his slender, very masculine and handsome face, behind which bright blue eyes were reflecting the moonlight. His appearance was accompanied by a strange aura as if he was a man of divine esteem among the Fireflies.

"You're too hot-tempered, you'll kill him yet," the man said calmly to Dorothy as if announcing a weather forecast. "And I want to have a brief conversation with this young man, too."

Dorothy stepped away from Heero, while he didn't take his eyes off Relena. She was helplessly looking back at him, her terrified eyes roaming over his mutilated body... Heero could feel fury rising in him for letting them fall into the hands of the Fireflies... And how badly he wanted to do anything to allow her from the building…

"Heero…" Relena gasped appalled, as the tall man dragged her closer. Then Dorothy intercepted Relena and tied her hands behind her back. Relena whined as the blonde jerked her shoulders violently. Heero bit his lip.

"Motherfuckers...!," he growled. His heart was beating like crazy, pulsating rage and hatred in his veins. Clenching his fists, he jerked his body forward by the force of his will, but he felt the unimaginably painful resistance of the broad tips of the nails, effectively holding his body in place. "Leave her alone...!"

"Spare us your sobbing," the long-haired man approached the prisoner, stopping right in front of him, then grasped Heero's sweat-stained hair violently jolting his head up so that he could look him in the eye. "It's amazing how people's fates keep intertwining. I told you that I would find you... Although saying this, I never thought that I would be forced to chase you through the whole country. And that in the end... I will kill two birds with one stone."

Heero was looking at the tall man, feeling the darkness that enveloped his pain-stunned mind slowly part. He recognized that voice…

"It's you...!" he drawled.

The pale-blue-eyed man smirked darkly.

"So we meet again, smuggler."

.

* * *

TBC

I think you already know who is the mysterious man who rules the Fireflies. But more importantly, why does Heero know him? What the Fireflies plan to do with Heero and Relena?

With the next chapter, I'm taking you on a journey a few months back… and then into the depths of hell. Did I mention, that's a survival _horror_?

Stay safe. We're heading towards the end. **The whole story is already written**, I only need to make minor adjustments. It's hard for me to keep my nerves in check, knowing how it will all end...

~enelle


	41. Chapter 41 - The Dead End

.

**Chapter 41 - The Dead End**

_WARNING: Violent scenes ahead, until the end of the story__._

_**Seven months back**__ \- March_

_Philadephia QZ_

_Heero POV_

_._

_He cautiously descended down the steep stairs, then walked into a narrow underground corridor lit by fluorescent lamps. The floor under his boots was flooded with urine and vomit, the air thick and stinking. Just around the corner, holding onto the wall, he took a long step, passing over the body of some jerk who suffered the comedown._

_Heero cursed under his breath; he hated this shithole._

_Reaching the end of the corridor, he nodded knowingly to the two masked cusses, then pushed the heavy cast-iron door open. He found himself in a big, damp room that had been serving as a sewage pumping station for the city of Philadephia before the outbreak. Now, when it wasn't flooded with rain, it served as a secret meeting spot for smugglers and their clients. One could buy anything here; some said that even the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima - provided that you had plenty of the only currency in force here and in the whole QZ, that is: ration cards._

_Heero rubbed his nose with his sleeve, then stepped between the people, carefully looking around. He crossed an unfriendly glance with some of the rival smugglers, shook hands of those who were neutral to him. He had no friends here; only business mattered. As he noticed the building-up ill will in the eyes of some rivals, he decided to return home by a different route today._

"_There you are, my boy. You made me wait for ages."_

_The boisterous old man chuckled, waving his wrinkled hand at him. Heero gritted his teeth; the old man was giving him the creeps. He would rather die before his time (he actually got used to this thought) than make it to the old man's age and be in his state - with two metal prostheses for legs, a hook for a torn hand, and almost mole-blindness. The man claimed that he had been a scientist once. Now he was still alive due in no small part to his unusual ability to endear people and associate smugglers with their clients._

_Heero came up to the old man. "Have you got something for me?"_

_Dr. J., because that was what the old man had ordered to be called, took a puff of a roll-up and gestured knowingly to Heero to come closer. When Heero approached, the man grabbed his arm and brought his face close to his ear. "See that tall, fair-haired man in the corner?"_

_Feeling the smoke of the cigarette pouring out of the old man's mouth bite his eyes, Heero looked around imperceptibly and noticed his client immediately. The man Dr. J. was talking about distinguished himself in this place. He had an unfriendly aura around him._

"_What does he want?" Heero asked._

"_He wouldn't say. He asked for the best smuggler in the QZ, so I said I know the one," the old man smirked, showing two rows of uneven, yellow teeth. Heero was about to step away from him, but Dr. J. clamped the thin fingers of his dry hand on his shoulder, holding him in place. "It's a Firefly. A big fish. Zechs Merquise."_

_Heero raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise. So this was this legendary leader of the Fireflies. Though the man covered his eyes with black glasses, Heero felt a strange tingling in the back of his neck - he knew he was watching him too. He tapped the old man on the shoulder. "Your cut-rate as usual?"_

"_Aye, my lad," the old man grinned. "Good luck."_

_Heero made his way across the hall, past the other smugglers and their clients discussing and taking orders and payments and exchanging goods. It looked like a rather bustling marketplace. As he approached the tall man, he stopped in front of him, sending him an indifferent look._

"_You're looking for me."_

_The man didn't move, eyeing him through his dark glasses. "You're so young. I was expecting someone more experienced."_

_Heero scowled at the man. "I don't have time to talk about birth certificates. Say what you want, or don't waste my time."_

_The man snorted. "They praised you. They just didn't mention that you were so ill-mannered."_

_Heero clenched his teeth and continued to scowl at the man. "Male prostitutes occupy the sewers on the other side of the financial district," he growled, turning on his heel, intending to stop wasting his time on this suspicious type._

"_Wait."_

_Heero stopped halfway, then looked over his shoulder, expectantly. The man put out the butt of his cigarette with his shoe, then nodded towards the dark corner behind his back. "Let's talk over there."_

_Heero followed the mysterious man to a lonely place. They faced each other in a narrow section of the sewers, lit only by pale rays of light streaming through the gutters above their heads._

"_You probably know who I am," the man began. _

_Heero folded his arms over his chest, glaring at the man. "You risk a lot wandering around the zone. Repression has intensified recently. FEDRA executes every captured Firefly. After hours of torture."_

"_I don't need your false compassion, smuggler. We know exactly what the QZ residents think about us. But you're right, I won't waste my time on smugglers who screw up their job," the man said, then fell silent for a moment. "I ordered the batch of guns and ammo into the QZ. I found the man, I paid, I waited two weeks - and nothing."_

_Heero lifted his eyebrow. He knew the story - for several days, people had been whispering that this had happened. News traveled swiftly in an environment as airtight as the smugglers in the Philadelphia QZ. "I don't recover debts."_

"_I don't mean debt, I mean goods," the Fireflies' leader growled. "I'm not an idiot, smuggler. My contractor is most likely dead, torn apart somewhere in your goddamn smuggling tunnels under the zone. And besides his rotting body, which interests me as much as last year's snow, lies the merchandise that I paid for and that my organization desperately needs."_

_Heero scowled at the man again, letting him talk; further talking would only jack up the price. _

"_I can't go by myself because I don't know your fuckin' routes. I've asked a few smugglers, but nobody's willing to go looking following this poor sod's path. People are scared," the man continued, eyeing Heero from head to toe. "I heard rumors about you. They say that where others retreat, you keep pushing forward… that's some kind of a deathwish, smuggler?"_

_Heero didn't let any of the muscles on his face even twitch at the words. "I have a habit of not asking clients about anything unrelated to business. I require the same of them… It's about being well-mannered."_

_Zechs Merquise curved his lips into a wicked smile. "Mouthy son of a bitch. Will you take the job, then?"_

_Heero didn't even blink. "Make an advance payment of 50 food ration cards and 20 retail cards, and I set out at once. The rest, 100 food ration cards, and 15 retail cards are due when I return with the merch."_

_The man pulled an enormously thick pile of cards from the pocket of his coat, counted it out, and taciturnly handed it to Heero. As Heero grabbed the payment, the man didn't let go of them. He removed his black glasses and eyed Heero with a scowl. He had bright blue, cold eyes. "Cards aren't a problem, as you can see. You will get an extra 50 if you don't say a word to anyone and come back with the merchandise until tomorrow night."_

_Heero narrowed his eyes at the man__. "Deal."_

"_I mean it, smuggler," Zechs Merquise growled, still eying Heero with a hostile look. "If you screw up, and I don't mean you being torn apart by infected or shot by guards... I'll find you. Even at the end of the world."_

_Saying this, the man turned on his heel and briskly left the sewers. Watching the leader of the Fireflies, Heero walked over to his broker, counting out 10 cards._

"_This is another unfortunate man, like many in our time..." Dr. J. sighed to Heero, taking his share and pointing the long-haired Fireflies' leader vanishing in the sewers. "Apparently, on the first day of the epidemic, he lost his entire family - his mother, father, and baby sister. He's still looking for her until this day."_

_Heero shrugged indifferently, and then the old man stopped him. "When do you leave?"_

"_Right away," Heero grasped his backpack. "It's going to rain."_

"_Godspeed, my lad."_

_Heero huffed significantly at the word 'God,' then walked briskly in the opposite direction, toward the back sewer exit. He knew exactly where to go, and he had a plan to get through the lucrative assignment before dark. Black clouds were rising over the city - he preferred to leave the underworld before it started to rain._

x

_**Seven months later **__\- September_

_Houston_

_Heero POV_

_._

"So, we meet again, smuggler."

Hanging on the boat nails, Heero stared at the silhouette of the proud, tall man standing above him, measuring him with a malevolent, cold stare. "A smuggler… or rather, I should say: a thief."

Zechs Merquise grabbed one of the old chairs standing nearby and sat down directly opposite Heero. He crossed his legs and looked at him with a penetrating gaze from behind the almost white bangs.

"I told you I'd find you if you screwed up. I always deliver," Zechs ground out. "You have lost not only my trust but also the trust of dozens of Fireflies who waited vainly for this weapon to be delivered. The day after you disappeared, FEDRA smashed the Fireflies' network operating in the Philadephia QZ. Twelve Fireflies were accused of blowing up a bridge over the Schuylkill River and executed… Anything of this sounds familiar to you, smuggler?"

_Duo…_

Keeping his poker face on, Heero looked back at the Fireflies' leader with an equally dark look. "You've traveled the whole continent to get me for a botched job…? You're much sicker in the head than I originally thought."

"Shut your trap, bastard," Dorothy cut in, but Zechs raised his hand, and she immediately fell silent.

"Don't get me wrong. If it was only this merch that you stole from me, you would only be chased by one of the many Fireflies groups, even on the moon. You would always have a shadow that would follow you around this earth," the man said, then paused for a moment, "but that'd be all. I called you a thief for a reason. You possessed one more thing... or I'd rather say _two more things,_ that are mine. You got it?"

Heero felt that this conversation headed in a direction he didn't understand and which he definitely didn't like. He shifted his body, clumsily propping his weight on one leg, feeling the nails pierce through his skin.

"You're mumbling, I can't understand a word you say," he growled, glowering defiantly at the man. "Get to the point because what I do get right now… is that you're a fucking lunatic over-obsessed with me for some sick reason-"

He didn't finish the sentence when the Fireflies' leader, without getting up from the chair, gave him a painful kick to his good leg. Losing his sole support, again, for a brief but definitely too long moment, Heero's body hung on the nails. He couldn't help but groan out in pain at the feeling of his body being torn apart under his own weight.

"I'm sorry, you were saying…?" Zechs muttered, crossing his legs again.

"Heero!" Relena's cry reverberated through Heero's clouded with pain mind. "You fucker! So brave you are, kicking him when he's pinned down? He would have killed you with his own hands if he was free!"

Heero's ears buzzed with the pressure with which his heart was pumping blood to his veins. His mouth went dry; in his mind, he screamed too, begging Relena to stop interfering... Eventually, he retrieved support for his leg again and pressed himself against the wall, but his head felt still too heavy to look up.

"You're sure tough. You didn't utter a cry," he heard Zechs' voice. "I've underestimated you. But finally, the tables are turned. Now is the time to settle the score."

Heero spat with blood and breathed heavily, then slowly lifted his head to look at the Firefly. "What do you want…?" he murmured with a hoarse voice.

The man leaned over to him, looking him deep in the eyes. "You still haven't figured out who I _really_ am?"

Heero said nothing, staring into those bright, ocean eyes with undisguised hatred. It made utterly no odds to him who this man was... Instead, he imagined how to kill him - in a thousand different ways - as soon as he freed himself.

As if he could read Heero's mind, Zechs Merquise's face distorted with a sly smile, and he stood up, but instead of serving another punch to Heero, he turned with his back to him and walked towards Relena, who flinched with fear at the mere sight of him.

"Leave her..." Heero growled after the man. "It's between you and me... She has nothing to do with it…!"

The Fireflies' leader didn't react at Heero's words as he approached Relena, who stood still, held by Dorothy, with her hands tied behind the back. He brushed a lock of blond hair from her cheek - the girl twitched at his touch as if he were burning her with a red-hot iron.

"You've grown up, Relena. You're a beautiful young woman now," Zechs muttered, touching her shoulder in such a gentle way that the very sight of it made Heero clench his fists in anger. "You only developed a terrible taste when it comes to men... little sister."

Heero froze, Relena's eyes widened as if she saw a ghost. For a moment she was silent, staring back at the man, then whispered, as if in disbelief, but loud enough for Heero to hear it:

"Milliardo...!"

x

_Relena POV_

_._

The illumination hit her so abruptly as if she was given a single, accurate blow on the head.

With every passing second, Relena recognized that eye color, that hair, that old scar on his wrist that he had got from falling off a bicycle in their childhood... Soon more and more details made her realize that a man that stood in front of her was her only brother, who had been lost for twenty years.

Her only family.

"Hello, little sister," Milliardo Peacecraft greeted her with a gentle smile on his lips, then leaned over and kissed her tenderly on the right cheek.

Relena stiffened, completely bewildered by this gesture, that would have been so natural in ordinary circumstances but, at this particular moment, felt sick and inhuman, almost bestial. She felt the ground slipping away from under her feet when a second later, two storm fronts collided inside her heart: feelings of relieved joy and almost murderous hatred for this man.

"Brother…" she whispered, dazed, her gaze glued to the silver firefly pendant dangling around his neck. "All these years… Where have you been? Father was looking for you and mom... He looked for you _everywhere_…"

Milliardo Peacecraft looked down at her. He seemed to rear above her, his tall, masculine demeanor obscuring her any view of Heero. "Our mother was a courageous woman, Relena. If it weren't for her, I would have died on the first day of the pandemic. We managed to escape Washington and made it to Baltimore QZ. However, we weren't safe there either... a year after that, our mother was attacked by FEDRA soldiers."

He hung his voice, and Relena felt her chest tighten at the sight of the darkness that clouded his pale eyes.

"If it was just about the ration cards, maybe I would understand it, Relena. Maybe I wouldn't have felt... such hatred. _Survive the fittest_... But what they did to her..."

Milliardo stopped short, and Relena didn't even think of interrupting this ominous silence. When he continued, every muscle in his neck could be seen trembling dangerously. "There were five of them. They passed her from one to another like a rag doll. It lasted for hours..."

Realizing the extent of the suffering of the woman, which brought her to life, and the tragedy of her brother who had witnessed it, Relena's heart filled with helplessness. She had always hoped that Milliardo and mother had managed to survive somehow... now that illusion weighed on her with a pang of acute guilt. After all, she lived in a safe QZ for twenty years, hidden and protected by her father...

"I swore over her dead body," Milliardo continued, clenching his fist, "that I would make them pay for it... That I would sweep them off the face of the earth, and that I would restore a world in which humans of their kind wouldn't have the right to live. That's how Fireflies were born, gathering all those who continued to look for the light in this darkness... And now, with the Peacecraft's vaccine in our hands, this new world order can be introduced."

_The vaccine_.

The hairs on the back of Relena's neck prickled at those words; their sinister nature, the hatred behind them, almost soaked Relena's heart as well. But when her hands met the barrier of a cord wrapped tightly around her wrists, it brought her down to earth... she was still bound, Heero was nailed to the wall… and the cause of it all was the man in front of her.

She suddenly remembered a conversation with Heero in the morning after their first night... And Heero's words:

_Finding a vaccine would bring Fireflies political influence. They would get enormous power as they would be able to decide about people's lives_.

Now the puzzle seemed completed. In the perfect world of the Fireflies, the vaccine for Cordyceps wasn't meant for everyone.

Relena shot a bold glance at the man that claimed to be her brother but was so different from her…

"And who's going to decide whether someone has a right to live?" she asked, her gaze never leaving his. "You?"

"Each man decides for himself about his fate," Dorothy's sudden whisper brushed the back of Relena's ear. "One can either cling to the dark… or _follow the light_. Like we do…"

Relena gazed around at the Fireflies ringing them, then at her brother, realizing that the feeling of hatred quickly began to prevail in her heart. She could feel the hot wave rising in her chest, almost taking her breath away.

"If this is the world you believe in, you have no right to be called Peacecraft anymore."

"I gave it up long ago. When I took the name of Zechs Merquise," her brother declared. "Let's face it, little sister. In our veins flows the same blood, but Milliardo Peacecraft you knew no longer exists."

Something about the look in his eyes was disturbing and mad; it was the gaze of a man who is capable of doing anything. A man who has been wronged, suffered by a terrible loss and was now consumed by fanaticism. And what was the most terrifying, this man was right - her brother didn't exist anymore.

Relena realized that further philosophical disputes were of no avail... Her and Heero's lives were on the line. "Milliardo, we're no threat to you," she declared. "We don't need to fight each other. Please…"

She noticed Zechs cast over her shoulder a short, knowing look at Dorothy. Her jaw clenched; there was nothing good about that look.

"Milliardo," she stopped short when Dorothy cut her backpack from her shoulders with a knife. "Milliardo, listen to me," she pleaded, feeling desperation reach her voice, "Heero didn't break the contract. He didn't run away with your merchandise! That day… I ran into him while my sneak off from the QZ... he barely escaped with his life from the infected! And then agreed to guide me to Houston, saving my life a hundred times…!"

Zechs Merquise didn't seem to be paying attention to any word she said, then he grabbed her backpack and looked at her meaningfully. "Where you're keeping _it_?"

She gazed back at him. "What are you-"

"Playtime is over, little sister," Zechs growled. Giggling devilishly, Dorothy approached him and began throwing all Relena's items out of the torn backpack, while Zechs continued. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. The reason why you're here. That's what our father wanted, and that's what the world needs right now…"

"Got it…!" Dorothy gasped, as she held a glassy vial in her hand.

The vaccine.

Relena watched helplessly as Zechs took the vial from Dorothy, gently and carefully, as if it was made of powder, and lifted it up to eye level. His gray-blue eyes focused on the object with almost predatory desire as if he was an exhausted animal that finally found water in the sun-scorched desert.

All the Fireflies fell silent, looking at their leader with delight and joy.

"That's it…" Zechs gasped, "we are close to the restoration of order and justice like ever before..."

"If that's all that you want, then take it," Relena begged, crossing glances with Heero. "Let us go, Milliardo. Please…"

The Fireflies' leader took his sharp eyes off the precious vial for a short moment. His eyes grew cold as if his soul overgrew with permafrost. There was no more human tenderness in those eyes... just fanaticism and the blind determination of a man who wouldn't hesitate to put everything on one card - for the sake of The Cause.

"Almost forgot…" he muttered.

Without taking his acute eyes off her, Zechs Merquise approached Relena and grasped her jaw in a decidedly unsubtle way as if she were a horse, jerking her head up and to the side. Relena gritted her teeth, feeling her brother's fingers painfully dig into her skin.

"Hands off her...!" she heard Heero's hoarse voice from behind her brother's back.

His grip didn't loosen a bit. Discovering the delicately outlines red line of the tooth mark on the side of Relena's neck, Zechs frowned at her with an unreadable, but ominous and cold look.

"So that's true. You survived an infected's bite."

Dorothy chuckled triumphantly. Then Zechs' grip loosened, and Relena gasped, scowling at her brother.

"You can't remember that, but, as your older brother, I do. When you turned one, our parents made fortune-telling for you. They put a book, a pen, a glass, a rosary, money, and a very tiny globe in front of you."

Relena blinked in surprise, not entirely understanding what he was talking about. Zechs apparently noticed her confusion as he smirked, turned away from her, and continued to tell the story.

"This was an ancient European fortune telling thing. The item the child chooses to touch symbolizes the child's destiny. If the child grasps the book - the child is likely to become a professor; if a pen - a writer or a journalist; a glass - a drunkard and a troublemaker; a rosary - a priest or a nun; money - a mean and rich man, and if a little globe - he or she is likely to become an ever-traveling citizen of the world," the man hung his voice for a significant moment. "You chose a globe, Relena."

Relena remained silent; she still wasn't sure what he was getting at.

"Our parents swelled with pride, everyone was convinced that you're gonna travel to the ends of the world. But now I realize... that this fortune-telling meant something entirely different. Your destiny isn't to travel the world... but save the world. _Lay down your life_ to save our miserable and only home, called Earth."

That moment her heart started pounding like crazy; she felt an almost animal fear. Looking into his penetrating, cold eyes, she suddenly realized what this man meant.

"No…!" Relena gasped in terror, stepping away from him.

Zechs Merquise approached her and grasped her painfully by her shoulders.

"I don't entirely trust in our poor father's abilities in creating this _so-called_ vaccine. He wasn't a scientist, after all… This vaccine may not be enough. But having you, _we_ can certainly create a cure," he continued, as he leaned into her. "Will you fulfill your destiny, little sister? The world won't forget your sacrifice, I will make sure of that-"

"Leave her, you sick fanatic!"

This scream came from Heero. Zechs pressed his lips together, releasing Relena from his grasp and turning abruptly to Heero.

"Milliardo, stop!" she begged, trying to follow him, but she felt Dorothy's iron grasp on her shoulders, holding her in place, while Zechs started nearing the prisoner again. "Please, leave him alone! Heero!"

Though he was severely wounded and still immobilized by nails keeping him pinned to the wall, Heero continued to glower fearlessly at Zechs. "What the hell you're planning to do to her?!" he growled. "She's your sister!"

Relena futilely struggled to break free from Dorothy's grip when Zechs Merquise stood in front of Heero, looking at him with contempt in his eyes.

"I'm proud of my sister," he declared in an icy voice. "I will make sure her sacrifice won't be forgotten. And you? Look at yourself, smuggler. Who will remember you?"

Heero shot Zechs his icy, hateful gaze, catching his breath.

"You lay a finger on her, I'll fucking kill you."

If looks could kill, the leader of the Fireflies would have fallen dead already. Unfortunately, even those terrifying, war-colored eyes couldn't slay humans alone.

Without a word and without taking his eyes off Heero, Zechs Merquise pulled a gun from behind his belt and cocked it.

Relena felt her heart stop.

"No…," she cried, once again trying to break free from Dorothy's grip, but it was in vain. "God, NO! Heero!"

It took a fraction of a second as the hateful and belligerent gleam in Heero's eyes faded as if he had fully realized the hopelessness of the situation and his fate. He took no action to fight back or run while Zechs swayed a gun up over his head.

And then Heero shifted his gaze… he simply looked at her.

Relena's heart lurched at the realization of how exceptionally heartbroken and emotional his last look at her was… filled with shame, regret… and an understanding that they had _too little_ time.

_Heero, I…_

"Please… Don't! NOOOO!"

Her scream was insufficient to drown out the force of the blow as the butt of Zechs Merquise's gun struck Heero's skull. Heero's eyes disappeared behind the curtain of his dark bangs, he dropped his head, from which a tiny trickle of blood began to dribble out.

_No_…

Relena couldn't stop screaming.

Grief and fury against the world were pouring out of her body along with her voice. She cried like never before in her life, like a slaughtered animal; she screamed not only with her throat, every part of her body, every cell screamed with her... She could only hear herself scream. She couldn't listen to voices or commands exchanged by the Fireflies around her. She no longer felt the pain from Dorothy's fingers that dug into her skin, as the pain in her squeezed heart took her senses away.

She could only cry, sob in pain as one of the Fireflies walked over to Heero and with one sharp tug tore him off the nails. His inert body crashed to the ground, his clothes soaked with blood from his open wounds that left long tracks leading to the iron tacks still sticking out of the wall. He didn't move anymore.

Though Relena already stopped struggling to break free, the Fireflies held her tight, dragging her outside the building.

She lost any sight of Heero very soon.

.

.

.

* * *

TBC

This time, there will be no author's note. Sorry.

Please don't hate me.

Five chapters left till the end.


	42. Chapter 42 - The Laboratories

.

**Chapter 42 - The Laboratories**

_**A few hours later**_

_Relena POV_

_._

Just like every storm ultimately loses its strength, winnowed by the wind, Relena gradually quietened down.

She had vomited up everything she still had in her stomach. No more tears were filling her eyes. Her heart was no longer beating so erratically. She wasn't breathing expeditiously like after a fast run. Her hands and feet stopped trembling and felt now as icy to the touch as if no blood was flowing to them. Although her body was silent now, the echo of her sorrowful cry kept returning inside her head. Petrified, she could only sit and look ahead with an absent gaze, but even then, she couldn't stop seeing Heero's last gaze...

Sitting on the edge of her hospital bed, with her fingers curled around the cowries pendant on her neck, Relena looked up at the flickering light of the broken fluorescent lamp on the ceiling. There were no windows in the room. She wasn't sure where exactly she was held. For the last several hours, almost non-stop, the Fireflies had been subjecting her to various examinations, done three CT scans, four ultrasound scans, took hectoliters of blood samples, and gave five different IV therapies.

It was already during the first tests when they managed to determine - without a single word on her part on this subject - that she was pregnant.

Three months pregnant...

The doctors showed it to her on an ultrasound, and Relena looked at her child in a speechless daze. They said that the embryo was already three centimeters long. Its clearly outlined arms and legs were already visible on the screen; it had a large, disproportionately large head compared to the rest of the body. Doctors said that its eyelids are already formed - they are stuck together, so the baby looks as if asleep. Soon _he_ or _she_ will be able to have small hiccups… Through the loudspeaker, Relena could hear the beating of the child's heart… such a _tiny_ heart, but already beating so fast...

She had spasms again. She fell off the bed onto her knees and vomited.

The noise quickly summoned the doctors and the Fireflies. Supine and dazed with bloodless anguish, Relena was immediately lifted into a sitting position like a rag doll. She felt a few sharp pricks on her forearm again; she didn't even flinch. How could this pain compare to the suffering Heero endured before he…

After a while, the doctors left the room again; only one stayed with her. Probably just to make sure she didn't hurt herself or run away. It was unnecessary, though, as now Relena had her arms strapped with tight strips to the hospital bed. Even if she wanted to hurt herself, the best she could do was bite off her tongue.

The female doctor that stayed with her had short, platinum-black hair and gentle gaze. The name "L. Noin" was embroidered on the front pocket of the white coat she was wearing.

"You're still in a state of shock," dr. Noin said softly as she sat down by Relena's bed. "Try to rest. The laboratory testing will be over soon."

Relena tilted her head to the side and watched as dr. Noin tenderly brushed the unruly strand of hair from her face. The heartwarming gesture was so incongruent, so out of place in this sterile dungeon... Relena studied the woman's face.

"You remind me of someone…," she sighed, "someone… very important to my dear friend."

Dr. Noin smiled. "I'd like to meet her one day."

Relena continued to stare motionlessly, unemotionally.

"She's dead."

The atmosphere thickened as if the air had evaporated from the room, and the soft smile instantly faded from dr Noin's face. She studied Relena for a moment, her dark purple eyes reflecting the flickering light of the fluorescent light.

"...was she killed by the infected?"

Relena didn't answer, considering that it didn't matter. Although she never met Hilde Schbeiker personally, she saw Duo talking about her and gazing at the photo so often that the smiling girl from the worn-out picture seemed to her almost alive. A picture that Duo always held close to his heart… Suddenly, Relena remembered that when she was looking through his backpack after Duo's death, she didn't find this photo.

That moment she realized that Duo died looking at Hilde, too...

_Heero_… The memory of his Prussian-blue eyes staring at her a moment before his death returned… Relena closed her eyes shut.

"All these tests are for a reason," she heard dr Noin's gentle voice. "Only this way, we'll be able to find out what _exactly_ eradicated the Cordyceps fungus in your body. Maybe it's a genetic mutation, maybe a protein mutation... maybe some counter infection, or..." the woman paused her medical jargon, clearly excited. "You're our best hope, Relena. The world never had such hope before..."

Relena didn't say anything, but turned her head, staring at the ceiling. Soon, she felt the touch of dr Noin's hand as she stroked her arm.

"Do you understand me, Relena Peacecraft?" dr Noin's voice was trembling as if she was nervous… as if she was excusing herself. "We can put an end to this suffering... so that such horrors never repeat themselves. Your life means so much for the world…"

"I don't care about my life," Relena sighed ever so indifferently and discouragedly. "Neither you do. Stop pretending that I'm anything more to you than a lab rat."

Dr. Noin flinched at those harsh words and bit her lip. "It's much more complicated than you are trying to portray…"

Suddenly, the door to Relena's room opened, and Dorothy Catalonia appeared in the doorway. Her slim figure cast a stretched shadow on the floor, her lengthy hair was tied back in a long ponytail.

"Lucrezia, you're needed in lab number 3," she announced in a cold voice. "They've just finished the genetic tests. They want your opinion."

Dr. Noin smiled a stressed smile at Relena, then got up from her chair and left the room briskly. Upon walking through the door, she whispered something to Dorothy, but Relena couldn't hear the words. Dorothy let dr Noin pass through the door, then turned to Relena, walked over the threshold, and over to Relena's bed.

"How is our _only hope for humanity_ feeling?" she asked in a squeaky voice, gazing at the straps that were still holding Relena in bed. "I've heard you're still puking. Being pregnant is a nasty thing, isn't it?"

Relena said nothing in reply. The blonde jumped on her bed like a child on a swing, seating herself comfortably and crossing her long legs. A silver chain with a firefly pendant dangled happily on her chest. Dorothy clicked her tongue, then gently stroked Relena's thigh; her touch was cold as ice.

"Noin doesn't know it yet, but I do. And I think you should also know by now," she began, the timbre of her voice causing the air in the room to vibrate. Feeling dizzy from the touch of Dorothy's hand on her thigh, Relena nailed her eye on the ceiling again. "The fact that you're carrying this smuggler's baby leaves us with one more option that we could to check before we start dissecting your brain."

Relena didn't even flinch at the words, letting Dorothy continue.

x

_Meanwhile_

Dr. Lucrezia Noin's heels echoed in the corridor as she briskly followed the route from the medical block to the administration wing of the St Anthony's Hospital, where the Fireflies' units stationed.

Every time she walked through this corridor, she had a feeling of shifting back in time. The hospital halls looked almost like they did during the time of her medical school. When the pandemic broke out, she was just completing her studies - there was only one last exam left for her to pass: medical ethics. The outbreak day came, and she never took this exam.

It was all the more surprising how many colliding emotions she felt in her heart when she kept repeating in her mind over and over again that "this is what you have to do," "it is required by the situation," "sacrifice one life to save millions"…

Passing the skywalk between the hospital buildings, she sneaked a glance down at the makeshift hospital cemetery spreading out below, in the green belt between the wards. Since they started working here on the cure almost a year ago, they took so many lives... in the name of science. They severed limbs, injected experimental drugs and saliva of the infected, transfused blood without giving a rip about serological conflicts... Looking at the carelessly dug, shallow graves, Noin realized that she had just found a name for her state of mind: _hypocrisy_. In its advanced, incurable, terminal stage.

Because what else to call the conflicting feelings she was experiencing? What differed this unfortunate girl from those other unfortunate ones who had lost their lives before her...

She reached the last door and pushed it open with a bang entering the spacious open space that served as the Fireflies' command center. Apparently, a gathering was just underway. A few Fireflies rose at the sight of her out of respect. The rest looked at their leader, standing with his back to them all, in front of a big window.

"Everyone out, except dr. Noin," Zechs Merquise growled.

Noin bowed her head and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her white overall, waiting for everyone to leave the room. Realizing how much depended only on her, she weighed again in her mind the words she was about to say.

"Well?" Zechs Merquise said expectantly when the last Firefly left the room. He still stood with his back to her.

Noin took a deep breath before beginning, adopting a professional attitude.

"She's almost a textbook definition of health. Apart from the bite mark on her neck, there are no significant injuries, old nor new. The samples don't show that she has taken any intoxicants or psychotropic substances in the last few months. All indicators standard, morphology without allegations... the only abnormality is an almost eightfold elevated leukocyte count. However, we have ruled out all clinically known possible causes, including leukemia and other autoimmune diseases..."

Zechs Merquise listened to her in silence with his arms folded over his chest, invariably staring at the horizon outside the window that started to glisten with the distant light of the rising golden globe.

"…an immune reaction to Cordyceps?" he muttered under his breath.

"Exactly," Noin nodded, taking out a pack of cigarettes from her pocket and lighting one up. She took a puff and let the smoke out of her lungs, buying herself a few more seconds to control the nervous trembling in her chest… "There is no other answer; with this amount of leukocytes, the body of an average human _kills itself_. We've already established the gene responsible for this mutation of leukocytes and... as I feared... it doesn't affect the bone marrow or the thymus, usually responsible for the production of leukocytes… but the brain."

Zechs eventually turned around, eyeing Noin with intent, but emotionless stare. He seemed as tired as she was; his face was gray with the shadow circles under his eyes.

"Then it means… just like you predicted... that _nothing_ can be done? And this bastard inside her… doesn't change a fucking thing?"

Noin bowed her head, biting her lip. "Actually, there's one thing we could still try… But I doubt if she'll ever agree to it."

Zechs was silent, waiting for Noin to continue. Noin took another long drag and cleared her throat before speaking.

"The embryo... is now about 11 weeks old. It must have inherited the mutation from Relena. Otherwise, the fungus would have already developed in him, even _in utero_. At this stage, it has a rather well-developed brain. We could _in vitro_ enter Cordyceps particles into its system and try to find _which specific part_ of the brain structure is physically responsible for increased immune response…"

The Fireflies' leader stared at Noin with an absent gaze for an uncomfortably long moment, then approached her. The woman couldn't tear her eyes from his unmoving pale blue look as he tore the cigarette from her hand and drew, then smothered it to the floor with his shoe.

"So this is the choice we're left with," he muttered grimly after a moment. "Kill her with the baby in her womb at one blow, or kill her baby first and then her?"

Noin flinched at the dryness with which he uttered the words, but couldn't argue. He was telling the truth. Such a young embryo had no chance to survive outside the mother's body. And _any_ operation they would perform on Relena's brain would result in her death; it was impossible to keep her alive after cutting out portions of the brain tissue.

Noin lowered her head and held out another cigarette with trembling hands. "Apparently..." she sighed as the lighter refused to cooperate.

Milliardo yanked the cigarette out of her mouth and crushed it in his hand, then threw it on the ground. "You should stop smoking."

Noin chuckled, gazing at the falling pieces of the cigarette. "Maybe you're right… Our supplies are about to run out anyway…"

"Noin," Milliardo addressed her with a low voice, and the woman jerked her head up. "Tell me… What should I do? What decision should I make…?"

For the first time, the determination in his eyes faded. In front of anyone else, he wouldn't allow himself any doubts; she was the exception, his lover, and the only confidant of all his secrets. And now he stood before her, eyes filled with uncertainty and fear, facing a beastly choice that would leave its mark on his life forever.

Noin looked into the man's eyes, then reached out her hand to touch his cheek. "We should try with the embryo scenario first. It's a hope… I don't know to expect of this test on her baby, but there's _always_ a possibility that…"

"She said _no_."

Noin turned on her heel, surprised by the sudden interruption. Dorothy Catalonia stood in the doorway, her hands triumphantly placed on her hips, her silhouette outlined in a dark contour against the light shining in the hallway until she closed the door behind her.

"Dorothy," Zechs shook Noin's hand from his cheek and walked the few steps across the room towards the blonde. "What are you talking about?"

"Your sis. She said she won't agree to submit her baby to this test," Dorothy announced as she stepped closer.

"What…?" Noin gasped. "How? Nobody has talked to her about it yet!"

Dorothy gave her an ominous smile. "I talked to her. Just a moment ago. I was curious about what she would say about that, given she had any right to decide. And she said _no_."

Noin felt a hot wave of fury rising in her chest. "You did _what_?"

"Are you fucking deaf, Noin?" Dorothy snapped.

"How dare you do this behind my back?!" Noin growled as she walked over to the blonde. "I am the commander-in-chief here. _I_ decide about her, about her tests, her treatment... I decide whether or not we're feeding her, and whether or not we're telling her anything!"

Dorothy raised one of her long, spiky eyebrows and looked at the doctor dismissively. "What's gotten into you, Lucrezia? Are you suffering some vocation crisis?"

Noin flinched at the sound of her own name in the mouth of this impudent blonde. "You're a sadist! What kind of decision would any mother make if faced with such a choice? She saw her baby for the first time on fucking ultrasound only a few hours ago!"

"Noin, that's enough," Zechs Merquise cut in, turning around to face the window again. "I think that ends the discussion about our options."

Noin felt as if she rooted to the spot, unable to move even an inch. She clenched her hands into fists, looking at the silhouette of a man she had always loved and admired, and whose attitude now filled her with uncontrollable anger.

"For God's sake, how can you be this calm, Milliardo?" Noin hissed. "She's your fucking sister…!"

"Shut up, Noin," Zechs growled. "Don't come between her and me. You have no right. I will respect her wish. And it's not your business."

The words hurt her on the raw, and hearing Dorothy's undisguised chuckle behind her back Noin realized that he had never humiliated her like this before. But the worst part was that Zechs was right, one more time: she shouldn't interfere. She was only a doctor, not a judge.

Noin pressed her trembling hands into the pockets of her overall and directed her steps towards the exit. She was about to grab the handle when she heard Zechs' silent voice behind her once again.

"And what about the vaccine?"

She sighed.

"It's… too early to talk about it. The material is scarce, and it will take months to multiply it. Now it's enough only for one person, and that leaves us with no possibilities to test its effectiveness..."

There was no other way out. _What it was like…_, Noin thought in her mind as she looked down at her hands, lightened by bright pink sunlight filling the room. '_Save the world by sacrificing._..'

"The sun is rising. Finish all the remaining tests before the night falls," Zechs ordered. "How many hours before you could prep her?"

"I need at least eight hours."

"Good, start from now. Take all the time you need, but keep me informed about every detail. I count on you, Noin. No… the whole world counts on you."

x

_Relena POV_

_._

She imagined her hands were free, so she could stroke her belly.

In her mind, she could see the black-and-white ultrasound image again, with a tiny tadpole-like dot moving in the bubble, like an eye of broth in a spoon. She knew that the entire set of genes was already distributed. It was a boy or a girl, the doctors couldn't determine yet. He or she was to have ocean-blue eyes like hers or Prussian-blue ones... He or she was to have honey blonde or chocolate brown hair... After another few months, maybe they'd have found out...

She felt hunger again, but they told her that she wasn't allowed to eat anymore. That she would be operated at dusk. With no window or clock in her tiny prison, she couldn't guess how much time she still had. For a moment, she even hoped that she might starve to death before the time comes. That would have ruined Fireflies' perfect plan for the cure. The idea of Milliardo and Dr. Noin discovering her starved corpse brought a grim smile on her face…

…_the fuck am I thinking about?_

Relena jerked futilely with her hands at the belts that kept her tied down to the bed, then stared absentmindedly at the ceiling. After a short moment, vivid and painful memories of the nightmarish events of the night started coming back to her mind; they returned stubbornly and uninterruptedly, chasing her like hell hounds.

She was _there_ again, in this horrible hotel lobby, ringed by the horde of armed Fireflies, held by Dorothy when her long-lost brother killed the love of her life just before her eyes. All she could do was to look…

And then, all of a sudden, that horror vision vanished.

Relena suddenly remembered that warm August night and the dances at the Evergreen party. She could almost smell the dense, moist air, saturated with the flowery scent of meadows surrounding Evergreen. She had never been as happy as then, in his strong arms, enveloped by his scent and warmth, swayed gently to the beat of a song that conveyed tender words that they both felt and yet couldn't always express.

She remembered the moment when she had lied to him the one and only time ever - when he had asked if she was pregnant.

Since that time, Relena had successfully made herself believe that it was meant to save him. That by lying about the baby and forcing them to continue their journey to Houston, she was sacrificing _herself_ for the sake of the world... and for his sake. How hopelessly stupid she was... How naive of her it was to think that only the two of them would be able to save the world - just like that.

What's more… How naive it was of her to believe that the world was actually eagerly waiting for this... She might as well expect a welcoming committee somewhere in Houston, with people falling on their knees before them as if they were some modern-day messiahs and thanking for the rescue.

In a world ravaged by twenty years of the bloody and merciless pandemic, the only thing that mattered was power. Only power gave a sense of security and control over life and the world around. In this world, the vaccine and the cure for a deadly, terrifying disease is only the most effective instrument of power over people. Jives about salvation and selflessly given rescue were just fantasies that could be told only by such idealists as her father... and herself.

She was sure Heero understood that... While she kept naively believing in people's goodwill.

"_We could stay here, Relena. Just say that you want it."_

He wanted to stay... He asked her to…

If they had stayed in Evergreen then…

The death that awaited her had one great advantage. It freed from suffering and a tormenting feeling of guilt. Relena realized it was all her fault; Heero had died because of her naivety and her lies...

_I killed Heero_.

And she was unable to save their unborn child she was carrying in her womb - the only evidence that the man she loved so much ever existed.

"Heero..." Relena whispered, closing her eyes, but the tears didn't run down her cheeks. If she could turn back time… she'd have never hidden the truth from him… But now it was too late.

"I'm sorry..."

x

There was blood _everywhere_.

It went dry on his cracked lips and curdled on his tongue and throat like a thick slime. It soaked into the fabric of his clothes that felt tight and rigid as if they were made of cardboard. A trickle running from the wound on the top of his head dried and clumped the eyelids of his right eye - he felt a dry clot break and fall down on his nose as he opened his eyes.

The space around him was lit by the warm morning light. As he noticed the blurred contours of the dirty floor covered with blood close to his face, he realized that he was still alive after all. The downside to this situation was that this was _his_ blood on the floor. On the plus side, though, it seemed to stop oozing from his wounds some time before. Hard to believe that having lost so much blood, he was still...

Slowly, centimeter by centimeter, his consciousness reached the subsequent parts of his body that started yielding to the power of his brain. He kept regaining control in his limbs, one by one, but that was followed by a feeling of throbbing pain. It felt like struggling through a thick swamp, with a lead load strapped to the side and during a massive hangover.

After a few more feeble attempts, it dawned on him that he _couldn't move_ his left arm.

This time it wasn't only a projectile in the tissues, but a huge, jagged wound left by a gunshot and a nail on which he had been hung for far too long. With rising anger in his chest, he briefly glanced sideways, at his left arm, covered in blood, resting on the floor and stubbornly inert. He cursed in his mind because he didn't want to waste the air he breathed with such effort...

As he tried to lift up his mutilated body at least a few centimeters above the ground, his thoughts traveled through time and space, remembering the train of events that brought him here. He remembered the noise that woke him up in the middle of the night and dragged him downstairs. He remembered the blinding squadron of Fireflies' flashlights. He remembered his three well-aimed shots at the Fireflies, and then two equally well-aimed Dorothy's bullets in his leg and his upper body. He remembered the nails… tearing his body apart, crushing through his bones and only miraculously (or maybe it was on purpose...?) leaving his crucial arteries undamaged, which prevented him from bleeding out. He remembered the tall bastard from the smelly Philadelphia's sewers that he almost forgot about…

He remembered... Relena's wide eyes, almost black with terror...

_Relena_... It was the last thing he remembered. Then there was only darkness and deafening pain in the back of his head that he kept feeling even now.

Suddenly, a strange, monotonous sound broke through his pain-swollen mind...

Smacking… Slurping…

He carefully tilted his head to the side, toward the staircase. Out of the corner of his eye, through his blood-clotted bangs, he noticed a Runner preying on the Firefly's corpse. The other two bodies' guts were already gone - the monster, lured by the scent of blood, was ravenous.

And apparently… Heero was next on the menu list.

_To be continued - Heero POV_

_._

* * *

TBC

Yes! Heero is still alive! Guy's way too hard to break. Will he be able to save Relena before it's too late…?

I was posting the updates rather quickly because of two reasons. First, I was sitting at home on sick leave and finally had time to write and secondly... I just want to tell you this story to the end so much!

I appreciate all your reviews. Next chapter: "The Thin Thread of Life."

By the way… Do you know that feeling… when after having written almost the whole story you realize, that its title is (probably) totally wrong from the very beginning? This morning I realized that the correct title should sound: "As long as we're still breathing air"!

Jesus Christ, English is difficult! And my English really sucks!

Those of you who are natives, please tell me: is there truly a mistake? If there is, I will correct the title, it just can't stay like that…

Stay safe,

~enelle


	43. Chapter 43 - The Thin Thread of Life

.

**Chapter 43 - The Thin Thread of Life**

_Heero POV_

_._

He froze, hearing the macabre sounds of an infected greedily feeding on corpses. The monster was so busy tearing meat and breaking bones that it didn't notice that one of his future meals was still alive.

This slight advantage, however, might have been insufficient. Heero had no weapons with him and was severely injured; he stood no chance against Runner, who would notice any move at any moment now. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, for a short moment, he preferred to close his eyes, lie down, and wait patiently for death.

But… the words of that motherfucker calling himself 'Relena's brother' about her _destiny_ kept rumbling in his head... ordering him to continue fighting for every second of his feeble life.

Then, suddenly, in the glare of the rising sun, he noticed his own gun, which he had rejected last night when he had been cornered by Fireflies. The weapon was lying on the ground, less than two meters from him.

_So close_...

Without thinking any longer, leaning on his only arm, he began to crawl in the direction of the pistol. He mentally cursed his inert left arm, which he was now dragging across the floor, while his consciousness focused like a ray of light in the lens on a pistol, which was getting closer…

But then the Runner noticed him and ran towards him with a high-pitched scream.

Seconds before the foul, rotting body hit him with full force, Heero managed to roll over onto his back and stop Runner's raging jaws by digging the elbow of his only arm into the infected's throat. The monster roared wildly, almost deafeningly, pulled out for a moment, and attacked again from above. Heero still managed to block the raging beast by grabbing the Runner's throat with his hand.

Heero glanced helplessly at the gun. It was so close, and at the same time too far... while the Runner kept pushing against him. The monster's jaws were getting closer to Heero's neck with every second. Wounded, and fighting against the beast with only one arm, Heero quickly started losing strength...

_Fuck, if I only had two good arms_…!

Then suddenly, a silver, long blade pierced through the very center of the monster's head like a skewer, and the infected stopped moving. Heero held his breath, feeling the Runner's weight slowly slide off him when he noticed that the machete was conducted by a hand belonging to a familiar-looking man…

"Trowa-"

"Heero… That was close…" the tall, green-eyed man threw aside the bloody Runner's body and looked down with horror at Heero's wounds. "Jesus, you look like shit… What the hell happened?"

"Heero!"

Another familiar voice. It was Quatre. He ran from around the corner, holding a shotgun in his hand, looking a little bit winded. "Oh, thank God, we've found you! We noticed Treaty and Zero hidden there… Are you okay?"

Heero gasped in disbelief, breathing heavily. He stared for a long while at his friends, still unsure if because of the blow to the head, he wasn't delusional. "You two... Why you're here?"

"It's a terribly long story," Trowa replied, cleaning up his machete.

"Few weeks after you left, a refugee from Houston came to Evergreen. It was one of the doctors forced by the Fireflies to cooperate. She told us that the Fireflies are conducting experiments on humans..." Quatre started talking in one breath, then paused, "and lots of other awful stuff. But, what was most important, she told us in detail how to get to the laboratories and about the laboratories themselves. Having this information, we simply couldn't leave you like that. We decided we need to stop those sick son of bitches ourselves or help you in that."

Heero listened to Quatre patiently, then twisted his lips into a tired smile. _That was something_. Looks like his luck still didn't run out. "Appreciate that…"

"What happened here?" Quatre suddenly asked, looking at Heero's wounds and around, especially at the Fireflies' rotting corpses. "And where's Relena?"

With Trowa's help, Heero slowly sat up, letting out a groan of pain and glancing with fury once more at his inert left arm, then clenched his right fist. "The Fireflies took her."

Crouching in front of him, Quatre and Trowa looked at each other with undistinguished concern.

"They ambushed us here in the middle of the night. It turned out..." Heero snorted, "that the leader of the Fireflies, a certain Zechs Merquise, is her brother."

Quatre's eyes widened in surprise. "You're not saying... Milliardo? So he's alive?"

Trowa first remained silent, as it was only Quatre who could know Relena's brother from their childhood, but then asked: "_Why_ did they take Relena? Do they know that she's immune?"

Before answering, Heero remembered that both his friends didn't know about a vaccine that Relena had with her. He preferred it to stay this way for the time being… Then he felt his head hurt again from the blow inflicted by Zechs. He gritted his teeth and touched his aching forehead with his right hand, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Heero, you're all right…?" Quatre's concerned voice reached him.

"I'll be fine. They want… to create a cure using her immunity. I'm not sure what exactly they want to do with her, but they won't keep themselves from… killing her if that way they'd develop a drug-"

"Jesus Christ...!" he heard Quatre's breathless whisper again. "Heero... your hand..."

"It's nothing," Heero growled impatiently, not even looking up at them, pressing his fingers to his eyes until he could see scotomas, "I... I don't have a feeling in it, but at least it doesn't hurt."

"No, Heero..." Quatre's voice was clearly trembling now. "Your _right_ hand."

Heero looked up, noticing that Quatre and Trowa were eying him intently; their faces were pale as if they had seen a ghost.

"What-" Heero snapped at them impatiently, then scoped out his own hand, and his heart lurched at the view.

On the side, halfway between his fingers and wrist, appeared a bloody mark in the shape of a human jaw. Bright red blood oozed from the wound, lazily tracing thin stream along his wrist.

It didn't even hurt… Given the amount of pain his body was subjected to in the past hours, the slight injury was like a bite of the mosquito. Heero didn't even notice when Runner managed to bite him fleetingly during the fight.

Time seemed to stand still before Heero fully realized what happened and what that little, shallow bite meant to him. He suddenly remembered everything he knew about the deathly fungus, the stages of the infection, how the fungus mutilates the host's body, makes the man lose their mind, and turns it into a bloodthirsty monster… he realized that all that would happen with him soon.

After all these years… luck eventually _did_ run out.

"…it's over," he heard Trowa's voice as if through the fog. The tall man stood and turned away from him, holding his head. "Fuck...!"

Quatre sprang up from his knees as well; there was an inexplicable sense of guilt on his face, even if he hadn't been at fault in any way.

Breathing heavily, Heero looked up at his friends who clearly and carefully moved away from him to a safe distance as if he was a leper. Or as if he was to lunge at them right then.

The atmosphere in the room grew thicker as if all the air was suddenly sucked out, and after a moment of silence, Heero began to notice the hostility lurking in both men's eyes.

"...let's finish this," Trowa sighed, breaking the silence and reaching for his pistol.

_No_.

_Not yet_.

"Trowa, wait-" Quatre tried to stop him.

At the same moment, with the last ounce of his strength, Heero grabbed his gun with his right hand, then, lying on his back, aimed it at Trowa.

Simultaneously, Quatre drew out his own weapon and aimed it at Heero.

"The fuck you're doing?" Trowa gasped.

"Heero, leave him alone!" Quatre muttered, his voice much softer than one would have expected from a person pointing at a gunman. The weapon didn't match this fragile youth. "Drop your weapon."

Heero remained silent without losing the center of Trowa's head from his sight and his aim. Blood was throbbing in his head, but despite his wounds, he held the gun firmly and steadily; it was clear that he would never miss his target.

"You're crazy? You want to suffer?" Trowa continued, "we should end it here and now-"

"This is my life. I'm the only one to decide when to end it," Heero growled. "If you have a problem with that, I'll take one of you to Hell with me."

A sullen and ominous silence filled the room as they held their sights in the deadly triangle, and neither of them was about to back down.

"Heero, if you want to wait for death, that's fine," Quatre continued after a moment, stepping back and nodding knowingly at Trowa. "Nobody will decide for yourself. We're withdrawing, just let go of your gun…"

Heero narrowed his eyes menacingly, but he didn't lower his gun even an inch.

"I can't die until I get her out of there."

Trowa snorted. "You've really lost your mind. Even without a fatal bite, you're seriously injured."

"The infection is progressing. In a few hours, you'll begin to lose control over your body… and then," Quatre continued. "There's no hope, Heero... I'm so sorry…"

Heero didn't answer right away, never taking his eyes and the aim of his gun off Trowa. Though his heart was beating like crazy, he didn't let it show. He had already made his decision.

"I won't leave her there," he grounded out. "As long as I'm still fucking breathing, I'm not going to leave her... I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna find her, even without your help, but it's gonna be much harder... And I may... not make it... in time…"

He was breathless, his chest tightened painfully. Whether because of the torrent of emotions and stress or the rapidly-developing infection, he was finding it harder and harder to speak. He scowled at his friends, watched as the weight and power of his words slowly reached them. Trowa and Quatre glanced at each other with uncertainty.

"The clock is _ticking_," Heero suddenly growled. "Make up your mind fucking faster!"

x

_Relena POV_

_._

Lying in the hospital bed, still buckled in belts, Relena didn't have a right angle on people entering her room. Movement around her bed had been almost negligible for the past few hours - which she accepted indifferently, as she had no influence on it. So when she finally heard the door open slowly, she continued to lay motionless, not even forcing herself to open her eyes.

"How are you, little sister."

It was the voice of her brother. It was the first time she had heard him since ... Relena jerked her head up off the mattress and scowled at him with hateful eyes.

"...get out of here," she muttered through her teeth, letting her head drop on the mattress again and shifting her gaze towards the wall so that she wouldn't have to look at him.

The sounds she heard made her realize that Milliardo Peacecraft didn't think of obeying her. He apparently put his hands in his trouser pockets and strolled to Relena's bed.

"I'm sorry about Dorothy," he began. "She shouldn't have talked to you about this test."

"She did well," Relena replied still without looking at him. "You wanted to hide it from me so I wouldn't have a chance to react?"

"Do you think that if this test could really make a difference, I would've taken your opinion into account?"

Relena gritted her teeth and didn't answer. Having him in her room, even hearing his voice, made her feel sick. Milliardo was silent for a moment as well, but she could feel that he was staring down at her. "You think it's easy for me?"

Relena snorted. "You've certainly been doing much worse things. I'm sure that the sacrifice of your sister's life for the good of humanity is actually one of a few valuable cards in your record..."

"We haven't seen each other for twenty years, Relena. You know nothing about me, and you have a very rash judgment on me. What gives you the right to do this?"

Relena finally turned her head, focusing her eyes on him. "The last few hours were enough for me," she replied. "You've lost your humanity. You've become a monster."

Milliardo raised his eyebrows with a sarcastic smile, then shrugged.

"You're talking so because of rage and regret for this smuggler. Therefore, you're not objective. But I don't blame you for that. After all, you two must have had some, let's say _bond_ since you not only widened your legs in front of him, but you also allowed him to get you pregnant."

Relena looked away at such degrading words and the mention of Heero. Her fingers tightened around the straps coming from her wrists as her brother bend over her.

"You're like our poor father, Relena," Milliardo whispered, brushing her hair back from her forehead with something like a warm, almost fatherly gesture. Still, Relena flinched at the touch of his fingers. "You're a naive idealist. Such people don't change the world. Only strong people can change the world. Ruthless. Capable of sacrificing anything-"

"_Anything_?" she interrupted. "Sacrifice anything… for what?"

Her words made him stop short and feeling her heart swell with a hot wave, Relena didn't let him continue. "Perhaps years ago, when those people wronged our mother, you pledged to sacrifice everything for revenge and for a better world... I believe that, Milliardo. But you've changed. Now all that matters to you is power."

Milliardo narrowed his eyes. He slid his hand down Relena's neck, taking the shell pendant in his hand and twisting it slowly between his fingers.

"All that matters _is_ power. How else do you want to change this world if not without power?" Milliardo leaned over her so close that Relena could feel his breath on her face. "This terrible disease has reduced our lives to a primitive, primal struggle for survival. Humanity went back to the times from before fire had been invented - when every worst shit preyed on _us_. This vaccine is like the first flame of fire over which man gained control and which gave way to the supremacy of humans as the leading predators on the globe. It gave us control over nature."

"….How many forests were burned to create farmlands? How many cities were burned to the ground to fight the fratricidal wars of people for power? How many people were burned at the stakes because they thought differently from those in power?" Relena asked her brother a series of rhetorical questions, then she made a significant pause. "You're right, Milliardo. The vaccine, the Cordyceps cure, is exactly like fire. It may have the power to purify, give life, and ward off dangers... but can also bring death and disaster. And you can very easily burn yourself with it."

She resisted the menacing look in Milliardo's eyes. The fear Relena felt in front of him was suddenly gone. The only thing she felt was hatred. "I know what you came here for," she suddenly felt confident. "To ask for forgiveness."

Milliardo withdrew his hand from Relena's shoulder as suddenly as if she had burned him.

"There's a part of you that is desperately trying to justify yourself… why you killed Heero and why you want to kill the baby and me. Guilt eats your heart out, huh? And that's only the beginning, brother," Relena continued ominously, narrowing her eyes at Milliardo, and rising a bit off the bed. "I swear. My spirit will haunt you after my death because I'll never forgive you. And I'm gonna make sure you never forget that, Milliardo."

Milliardo Peacecraft's eyes went still, frozen in time, completely devoid of emotions, and then the hostility was slowly creeping in his gaze.

"Our father's probably rolling in his grave as he's listening to what you're saying," he said. "I'm not asking for forgiveness if that is what you mean, Relena. Instead, I'm looking for reconciliation. And you're old enough now that you shouldn't believe in ghosts anymore, little sister."

As he turned away from her and walked out of the room, Relena held her breath, then felt her heart pound at dizzying speed. By confronting her brother, she found strength in herself that she hadn't expected to find. It was like a bucket of icy water. This strength didn't allow her to give up. She had to save herself and the baby.

She just had to.

x

_Heero POV_

_._

They rode their horses for about two miles through the streets of Fourth Ward, then the Central Business District, fortunately without encountering any obstacles or Fireflies' squads. The streets of Houston were filled with thousands of overturned cars, between which they forced their way like through a maze, probably perfectly visible to any snipers who could have been hidden on the upper floors of the surrounding skyscrapers. Thankfully, nobody shot them.

They met the first Fireflies' patrol around the tracks and tram stop of the 700 line. At that moment, the sun was already high in the sky. Trowa and Quatre quickly got rid of the guards, then trio rode a few hundred yards. They decided to leave their horses at the building of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

Getting off his horse, Quatre looked over his shoulder, then walked over to the bay-colored stallion. "Heero, do you need help…?" he asked with sincere concern in his voice.

Sitting still in Zero's saddle, Heero looked down at the blonde but then noticed Trowa as he measured him with an unfriendly, utterly disapproving gaze.

"I'm fine. Back away from me, Quatre," Heero said with an indifferent voice. As Quatre retreated a step, Heero gripped the saddle with his only hand, then dismounted, only slightly losing his balance as his injured leg touched the ground. Then he reached for the load on the saddle, to take his shotgun out as usual, but hesitated.

His left arm was suspended in a sling and tied tightly to his chest with a bandage so that it wouldn't bother him during the fight; plus, it allowed to appropriately dress the nasty wound under his left clavicle. Heero still didn't regain feeling in his left arm, and he realized that with each passing hour, the chances of getting it back were running low. The wound in his leg was less severe - no nerves had been severed. He only felt pain when walking, but managed to alleviate it with a tight bandage.

But all that didn't matter; his fate was sealed anyway. He had only a few hours before he turned. The bite wound on his right hand reminded him of it. The lines around the bite were already turning black.

_Nothing here for a shotgun, with only one hand_, he thought. Instead, Heero reached for both of his revolvers, packed under his jacket all the ammunition he had, three grenades, and a bottle of gasoline with a rag - the best instrument to blow this place up.

Before he left, he stopped for an instant and patted Zero's neck, looking at his animal companion with tenderness. Indeed, he was fortunate to come across a horse with a heart way more gallant than many people had. Zero looked at him out of the corner of his eye, neighing knowingly. As if he knew that it was goodbye. Heero leaned over, stroking Zero's silky nostrils.

"Thank you, Zero," he whispered.

He let Zero go, grasped his shotgun, and walked confidently towards Quatre and Trowa.

"Quatre," he called the blonde and handed him his long rifle. "I don't need it anymore. Make sure to use it well."

Accepting the weapon, Quatre smiled sadly at Heero and, after a moment of hesitation, slung the shotgun over his shoulder.

"Let's go."

They continued on foot, not through the open streets where they were perfectly visible, but through the empty buildings surrounding St. Anthony Medical Center. They reached their destination at noon when the sun was at its highest point in the sky. According to the intel from the girl that got away, it was in this hospital that the Fireflies set up their headquarters and conducted tests. It shouldn't be surprising - the building was intact, undamaged for twenty years, probably all the medical facilities lying there could still be used.

Surprisingly, the main entrances to the complex were almost unguarded, and within minutes the trio ran inside the hospital corridors and moved deeper, taking down individual Fireflies patrols together.

"Where the fuck are they?" Heero snapped impatiently as he checked the next corridor, his gun held in front of him. "We should have met some troops long ago, not only single guards…"

"It's definitely this place," Trowa muttered, searching the body of the Firefly that they had just killed, then pulled the radio out of his pants, that continued to make a screeching, monotonous noise. He turned the device off, then turned it on again and began humming into the microphone. "Epsilon, Epsilon, this is the first-floor patrol, waiting for instructions, over."

Heero looked at Quatre with surprise. "_Epsilon_ is a code, some kind of emergency," Quatre explained. "We know it from this girl that got away."

After a moment, a metallic voice came from the radio. _This is Epsilon, use the fucking codes next time. Meet at a fixed location in five minutes, change of guard, over and out_.

"Yessir, over and out," Trowa muttered into the microphone as he rose from his lap. "Fucking amateurs. If nothing has changed, they have meetings in the ICU waiting room. It's on the second floor."

Heero gazed at Quatre. "This is also from this girl?" Quatre smirked at him knowingly, and Heero pursed his lips in admiration. "Clever."

"Here's an emergency exit," Trowa pointed out, running in the direction of the wide double door. "It'll be faster up the stairs."

"After you."

The boys ran up the stairs two floors up, not encountering any difficulties on the way, apart from two Fireflies, knocked down simultaneously by Heero and Trowa. Letting the enemy's inert body to the ground, Heero gritted his teeth and cursed violently under his breath, pressing his right hand to his chest.

"Heero!" Quatre gasped as he made a step in his direction.

"Don't come near me!" Heero growled, then caught his breath and looked down at both sides of his hand. The black veins were already spreading from the mark, reaching beyond his wrist. The surface of the skin felt hot to the touch, almost burning…

"What are we doing…? This is madness," Heero heard Trowa sigh behind him, as well as a nervous but quiet conversation with Quatre.

He dropped his head onto his chest and breathed heavily. He knew they were afraid of him. He knew he was a threat to them. It was understandable. He just hoped he wouldn't start to be scared of himself... Heero gritted his teeth, then got up from his knees.

"Let's hurry. We must attack during the assembly when everyone is in one room. That's our only chance."

x

_Relena POV_

_._

"It's time, Miss Relena."

She didn't react in any way to the nurse's words. She didn't flinch, staring blankly and absentmindedly at the ceiling. "Miss Relena?"

Two nurses approached Relena's bed and leaned over her to look her in the eye.

"What's with her? Is she in shock?"

"What's this smell?" the other snarled, then had a look under Relena's quilt. "Shit… She has wet herself."

"Gosh," the other pulled a bunch of keys dangling on a long lanyard and started unbuckling belts from Relena's wrists. "You go get the mattress from the other room and dry underwear. I'll start changing her."

"You sure?" the other hesitated, "Shouldn't we be doing this together?"

"Look at her, she turned into a fucking vegetable," the nurse lifted Relena's hand and dropped it, watching it fall limply on the mattress. Relena's body didn't even twitch. "Poor thing. It's horrible. Get that mattress, quick."

As the nurse left the room, the one who was left unbuckled the belts at Relena's legs and leaned over her, lifting her wet nightgown up. "Here we go... Now up-"

The nurse didn't have time to finish the sentence as one of the keys that dangled around her neck sank deep into her throat.

Blood bubbled in the woman's throat and splashed onto the white gown and sterile floor, the nurse aggressively sunk her fingernails into Relena's arms trying to break free, but Relena gritted her teeth, ignoring the pain, and pressed the silver key in her hands even deeper, slicing the nurse's aorta with a sharp ridge. Ultimately, the woman stopped fighting and fell to the ground in a pool of her blood.

Relena looked down at the woman lying on the ground for a long moment, realizing that she had just killed a human.

She felt hot, she had ringing in her ears, her heart pounded like crazy. She felt sick - after all, this woman alone did nothing wrong to her... But then, ultimately, her clear-headedness came back - she wasn't safe here. Relena jumped off the bed to the floor and hid behind the door.

Fortunately, the second nurse entered the room, holding a large mattress in front of her, so she couldn't see her friend's bloody body. She made no resistance when, by surprise, Relena inflicted her a sharp blow to the back of her head with a metal container.

Breathing hard, Relena stood for a moment over the bodies of both women, wondering what to do next. She didn't think she would be able to break free; she had no plan on what to do next. As if to calm her nerves and give herself just a few seconds, she slipped her wet nightgown off her shoulders, then reached for a dry one and quickly put it on her naked body. Whatever happened, she didn't want to die in wet clothes.

She leaned out of the room into a corridor that was still empty, illuminated by the faint light of fluorescent lamps. She left her room and ran barefoot towards the ward exit, but the main door was locked. She looked around; just around the corner, there was a nurses' station with another pair of doors leading to the staircase. Relena ran there then, taking a route down, thankfully without encountering any patrols on the way, but also without the slightest idea which way she should choose.

She was realizing too painfully that she was so amateurish. If they caught her, she wouldn't stand a chance. _Think…! What would Heero do in this situation?_

When she ran down to the third floor, the whole hospital building was suddenly shaken by an intense explosion that almost made her lose her balance and knocked her off her feet. Immediately after that, the piercing sound of the fire alarm reverberated in the building, and bright-red fluorescent lights came up.

Holding on to the wall, Relena heard the sound of tens of feet. With no other place to hide, she slipped behind the row of low, plastic chairs.

Then, a group of about eight people, all in lab coats, ran out from the corridor on the right.

"Everyone out! We need help on the second floor!"

Speechless, Relena peeked out from behind her hiding place. She knew that voice. It belonged to a tall, pretty doctor who spoke to her. Then she saw that woman, as she ran into the corridor with the others and commanded the people. "We're under attack! We have to save our men! Get onto the second floor, now!"

"Dr. Noin, and the lab?"

"Fuck the lab! Hurry, our boys need us!"

Relena watched the last medics rush out of the corridor, then Noin locked the door to the passage, and ran after the other doctors down the stairs to the second floor. Relena didn't come out of hiding until the only sound she heard was the shrill alarm and the sounds of battle from the level below.

"Under attack...?" she sighed, trying to understand what _the hell_ was going on in this madhouse.

x

_Heero POV_

_._

The Fireflies didn't expect an attack on their base. They were so carefree and inattentive that only three grenades thrown into the center of the room were enough to turn an armed group of men into bloody pieces of meat.

Of course, reinforcements began to arrive almost immediately, and soon a regular battle broke out on the hospital's second floor. The rain of bullets was incessant, although the dust from the explosions hadn't still settled yet. Quickly the scales of victory began to tip in favor of the attackers - they shot much more accurately than the surprised and terrified Fireflies.

Fireflies, however, had more people. As the entire unit seemed to have been wiped off the face of the earth, further reinforcements were heard down the hall, tormenting the attackers with an endless rain of bullets.

"We can't get stuck here," Trowa roared, firing a series of shots from behind an overturned metal desk.

"Trowa's right," Quatre admitted as he ran between the shields. He stopped behind the pile of rubble from the granite explosion, kneeling right next to Heero. "What we do?"

"We burn this shithole down."

Heero muttered these words, lightening a rag tucked in a freshly prepared Molotov cocktail, then threw the bottle towards the corridor. When the passage caught fire with a bright flame and the screams of burning Fireflies resonated throughout the floor, he knew that he had hit the target.

A few Molotov cocktails later, killing those few Fireflies that survived the conflagration was just a formality, and the three ran out of the room into an empty corridor with en exit to the main staircase with the inscription "Evacuation route" over the doors. There they stopped, looking around; an empty hallway in front of them led to the other wing, and behind them, an entire floor was already burning.

"Let's split up," Quatre suggested. "This way, we'll be able to find Relena sooner."

Trowa looked around. "It's the perfect spot. Following this corridor, we can reach the administration wing. By taking these stairs, we can reach the laboratories, the ICU, and even take the evacuation route straight outside the building."

Heero nodded. "Let's do this."

"All right, sooo… on this level, we have those motherfuckers' command center. It's there, in the administration wing," Quatre said, then eyed Heero with a stern look. "Heero, Relena may be held only either in ICU downstairs or in the labs, upstairs-"

"I'm staying here. On this level."

Trowa and Quatre looked at him with confusion in their eyes, but he resisted their gaze in silence.

"But… you came here for Relena!" Quatre gasped. "She's waiting for _you_!"

Heero hung his head, gazing down at his right palm. His fingers trembled slightly as he held his hand in the air. The veins in his wrist were swelling with black blood, the skin around the bite mark was smothered with a red rash, full of the painful blisters.

He wasn't sure what he felt watching this advancing rotting of his own body, while his blood was still warm; maybe apart from frustration that the goddamn infection would finish him sooner than he will accomplish his last mission.

He still had a score to settle before he died.

Heero gritted his teeth, then lifted his gaze at his companions again, but the expression in his eyes was unreadable, hidden behind the long bangs that shadowed his face.

"It's not gonna take much longer now... and Relena had already seen me die," he said, his voice confident and ice-cool. "One time is _enough_. I won't rise up from the dead before her eyes only to die again right after that."

Trowa watched Heero with still gaze, while Quatre looked like he wanted to protest for a moment, but meeting Heero's confident look, he remained silent, submitting to Heero's decision, even if he disagreed with it.

Heero clenched his fist and gazed at both men, not allowing himself to be or to look touched, as they stood in a safe distance from him. He knew that in their eyes, he was already a walking corpse. He didn't need their or anyone's pity.

"Tell her that-"

Heero's hoarse voice eventually trembled, but instead of letting it crack, he froze up.

What should one have to say in their last word to not sound so miserable? Should he say that she should continue living? That he's thankful to her? That he's sorry? That he loves her - _so much_ _more_ than he was able to show all this time…?

Are the last words to the beloved person, which will later be remembered and guarded like a most intimate secret, indeed the right moment to say things that were neglected during one's life? Did he have the right to do that…

_No_, Heero thought. _It's better to just walk away_. _Vanish_.

He swallowed, never taking his eyes off Quatre and Trowa.

"Find her… and get her out of here safely. Do you understand…?"

It was the last thing he asked them to do. Or rather, he _ordered_ them, because the glow in his eyes was so intense that it could break bones. It was the only thing he cared about, the only thing that still mattered.

Trowa frowned, and Quatre's eyes glittered. "We do. We'll safely get her out of here."

Heero felt something ease deep in his heart and _that_ they could undoubtedly notice in his gaze. And their eyes told him they would keep their word.

Then Trowa looked back as he heard footsteps in the distance. "We must go."

"Go," Heero urged them with an indifferent, distant voice.

"Good luck, Heero," Trowa nodded in Heero's direction, then started walking away, his gaze never leaving Heero's.

"Yeah…" Quatre sighed, then slowly walked away too, but still didn't look away from Heero. "Heero… thank you… for everything… good luck…!"

Heero neither moved nor said a word, watching the only friends he ever had vanishing on either side of the corridor - Trowa running up the stairs and Quatre down. Finally, they disappeared from his sight… and, paradoxically, he was relieved to finally be _over it_.

The fire from his Molotov cocktails was continuously spreading throughout the whole floor; the smoke of the burning plastic bit his eyes. He felt himself getting incredibly hot. His bitten arm felt as if it was on fire, and its disturbing heat was spreading across his entire body. He couldn't take off his clothes in the usual way due to his bandages, so he pulled his knife out of his pocket and cut the shirt he was wearing into small pieces, remaining only in a black tank top. Only then did he notice that the black veins were already outlined at the length of his elbow.

At least Relena won't see him like this…

He took a deep breath, then strolled ahead, passing the burning corpses of the Fireflies, toward the administration's wing.

.

.

.

* * *

TBC

Any resemblance to real objects or places is coincidental.

I want to thank you all for your fantastic reviews!

Relena finally gathered strength, she became a real badass. And I'm sorry if I broke your heart again with Heero... but I'm afraid that this time, there's probably no rescue for him…

What will happen next?

Three chapters left until the end. The next title: "The Ticking Clock."

Stay safe,

~enelle


	44. Chapter 44 - The Ticking Clock

.

**Chapter 44 - The Ticking Clock**

Warning: for language and violence.

Plus: writing some of the dialogues, I didn't want to offend ANYBODY. It's just for the purposes of the story.

.

_Heero POV_

_._

Leaving the flaming hospital wing, Heero shut behind him the doors leading to the narrow skywalk and looked acutely around, listening. An ominous silence surrounded him, he could only hear the crackling sound of the fire and the alarm from behind the door. He was alone, and that actually dismayed him. How can the run-up to the command center be so deserted, with no Fireflies' soldiers guarding it?

As he walked across the screened skywalk, something behind the glassy windows caught his attention, and he looked out. Down, on the front lawn of the hospital, he noticed a dozen of carelessly piled graves and one massive pit filled with still not buried bodies… No corpse was complete - people were still wearing white hospital shirts, some of their limbs were severed, some even still had drip tubes attached to their veins.

"...Fuckers!" Heero growled under his breath, gazing at the macabre view. It was impossible to guess who these people were; probably, they were survivors who tried to live through each new day in this hell on earth. They didn't expect that death wouldn't be inflicted on them by the monsters, but other _people_...

That was the cost that Fireflies didn't hesitate to pay to get the cure for _Cordyceps_.

Heero kept walking ahead through the skywalk, and behind another pair of doors, he entered a spacious administrative open space. Just like the skywalk, this room was very well lighted, as it had the same glassy, tall windows, through which the golden-orange rays of the late afternoon sun poured into the interior. One of the windows was broken, letting in a gentle afternoon breeze. The ceiling was supported by several pillars. The room was stacked with work desks and crates with some equipment (and a distinguishable Fireflies' logo) that now cast long, dark shadows on the dirty floor.

This room, which was undoubtedly the Fireflies' command center, also seemed utterly deserted. Walking between the work desks, Heero took his steps carefully, holding his gun in front of him and gradually scanning the space for any move. He was slowly approaching the center of the hall, listening and alert to the faintest sound that would reveal the presence of even one Firefly, when he suddenly heard footsteps coming from behind him, from the direction of the entrance to the skywalk that led to the hospital wing.

At the speed of light, Heero whipped around and hid behind one of the pillars, keeping his gun close and peeking out for the enemy that was approaching. A few seconds after, the doors to the room opened with a loud bang, and Zechs Merquise in the flesh dashed inside, followed by a raven-black haired, tall woman in a white medic coat.

Heero froze hidden behind his pillar, feeling blood boil in his veins at the sight of the tall man, with difficulty resisting the urge to immediately shot the bullet in Zechs' head... They were separated by no more than twenty meters, but the two haven't spotted him yet.

The two seemed… stressed out.

"I've already said. That's out of the question, Noin," Zechs muttered harshly to the woman, putting all his gear, including shortwave radio and a rifle on one of the nearby desks. "I want you to stop."

"No, Milliardo, I won't stop," the woman, apparently called with strangely sounding name _Noin_, persisted, stopping abruptly a few meters behind Zechs and clenching her fists in apparent anger and restlessness. Heero saw this woman for the first time in his life, but he realized that she must have been close to Relena's brother if she was allowed to call him by his real name. Even Dorothy wasn't allowed. "We must evacuate the base. We need to save all that has been built here-"

"We're _not_ leaving this place," Zechs snapped at Noin, turning around to face her and raising his voice. At that moment, he was standing with his back to Heero, and Heero sensed it was the right moment to come out of hiding. "Pulling back means starting with a clean slate and delaying everything for months, if not years... during that time, every day, more and more people are being torn apart by these monsters or suffocating in the fumes of spores. People are dying even now, Noin! We are _not_ allowed to pull back even for a centimeter."

_Now._

Giving himself only one more second to control his breath, Heero slowly, silently came out from behind the pillar, holding his gun in front of him.

"_Your people_ are dying right now!" Noin screamed over-emotionally, pointing her finger at the door behind her, through which they had walked in. "What do you want to build on if we lose everything now?! I'm begging you, we need to pull back, please-"

The woman stopped short and froze in surprise as her eyes came to a stop at Heero's steely gaze just above the barrel of his pistol. Apparently noticing the sudden change of expression on her face, Zechs whipped around, and the two men's eyes finally met.

Stopping about fifteen meters from them, Heero held his gun steadily, aiming at the center of Zechs' forehead, whose countenance, though still composed, noticeably transformed from shock and surprise to blind fury.

"Smuggler…! I assumed you dead," Zechs growled, "and I was wrong once again."

Heero focused all his vigilance and attention on this man, the leader of the Fireflies, his former client, Relena's brother, and the self-appointed _messiah_ claiming to bring normality to the world. Now, after seeying the evidence at the hospital grounds, he should also call him a massive murderer. The only thought about all this was enough for him to pull the trigger and end all this...

"You're not a pretty sight," Zechs suddenly continued, the muscles in his temples and neck pulsing distinctly as he kept his eyes locked on Heero.

"Thanks to _you_," Heero growled, but kept his nerves in check, not letting anger take him over.

Zechs shook his head. "I mean your right arm. So these scavengers eventually got at you. You're running out of time."

"I'm gonna make sure your time runs out sooner than mine."

Zechs narrowed his eyes menacingly at Heero when suddenly Noin walked from behind Zechs, spreading her arms in a surrendering gesture.

"You're committing a mistake. Not all hope has to be lost for you," Noin said in a gentle voice, pointing at Heero's hand. "We could help you..."

Heero gave her a dark look in reply. "Spare me those barbaric methods you practice here. Once I kill you all, I'll burn this place to the ground. I'll wipe off the face of the earth every fucking _tiniest_ trace of you. So that such horror will never happen again."

Ominous silence filled the room.

Heero swallowed, suddenly feeling his heart beating so fast and loud as if it might have echoed in the room. It didn't usually happen to him, he was always able to control his body; this time, however, for some reason, he couldn't... _Was it another symptom…?_

"Just let me ask you one thing, smuggler. Do you think that this place was created in one go, just like that?" Noin asked rhetorically, cracking her knuckles.

"Noin…" Zechs growled, his sight never leaving Heero, but the woman didn't stop talking.

"Lives of dozens of Fireflies and people of goodwill had to be sacrificed to create this hospital. We needed months of preparation and smuggling tons of goods and medical equipment, including those found in other states... Such an operation would never have been possible if it hadn't been for the determination and faith that it could bring us a better tomorrow."

Heero's features didn't even twitch when he nodded towards the glass windows. "Those people… in those shallow graves out there, below the building... they shared your belief in a _better tomorrow_ too?"

Zechs's stern expression didn't change even for a moment, but Noin apparently hesitated before continuing.

"Think about it. How many people must have died before the tuberculosis vaccine was discovered? Or polio vaccine, flu shots? Do you think that before this happened, there had been no attempt to treat people in _all_ possible ways? To find out a cure, medics had done things on people that we would call torture today, but those actions eventually led to a breakthrough. Is anyone now questioning these actions?" she made a significant pause. "No. We all know that those actions were necessary and justified at that stage because all those experiences _in gremio_ led to our present state of knowledge."

"…accepting that looking for a cure can be _much worse_ than a disease itself, huh?" Heero concluded in a low voice. He felt irritated by this useless conversation, which was only showing the extent of the woman's hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he was finding it almost funny that she didn't or didn't want to realize this paradox. "Let's face it. You toy with human life here. Playing god. And that's a dangerous game."

"Now _you_ are playing God, Heero Yuy," Zechs interjected, taking a step closer to Heero and pushing Noin behind his back. "You have no right to judge us. Only history has the right to judge us - it will also show who was right: we or you. Although something tells me that you will soon disappear without a trace into the darkness of history."

"I don't care," Heero growled back. "I just can't stand the thought that when I give up the ghost, you'll still be walking on this earth. You who don't hesitate to turn your own little sister into lab material."

Zechs snorted dismissively, and Noin flinched.

"I want her to become immortal," Zechs declared. "The part of her genes responsible for her immunity, fixed in a vaccine or drug, will live long after her death, saving millions of people. That's what I want for her."

"You want to _use_ her."

"And what do you want for her?" Zechs snapped aggressively. "Or rather, I should ask, what did you do for her, so far? Except that you fucked her and fathered your bastard in her?"

Hearing those words, Heero stiffened, his racing heart skipping a beat.

His throat felt dry as if Zechs' words had the power to transfer him into the scorched desert. A hurricane of thoughts and emotions reverberated in his head, he was unable to utter a word, bewildered, and almost breathless… and then numb because of pain that struck his heart when he realized that his _hunch_ ultimately turned out to be true.

Ever since the very moment when it had become clear that he was going to die, Heero stubbornly and desperately clung to the thought that he's wrong and she's _not_... Now everything was falling into place; he had no reason to believe that Zechs was lying.

Heero's heart bunched up as he perceived that by dying, he would leave _not only her_. He had brought to this tremendous world another feeble life, another child that won't remember his father - just like him. He's gonna wrong not only her but also this child, even before it's even born...

…how much _easier_ and _less painful_ it would have been to die without this awareness.

The anguish had to be reflected visibly like never before on his usually controlled facial features because Zechs smiled crookedly as if he realized and said:

"Ah, I see… You didn't know."

x

_Relena POV_

_._

On the floor above, in the corridor lightened by pulsating in red alarm lights, Relena stood in front of wide glassy doors with an inscription _Laboratories_, realizing that the destination of her long journey had literally materialized before her eyes. Although reason urged her to run out of the building and save herself, some strange power held her in place…

She had a _hunch_: behind that door could be a vaccine that had been taken from her. It was the vaccine created by her father to save the world and _all_ people that now could be used for the particular interests of one group. Heero was right, and she was even more sure of that after speaking with Milliardo: it wasn't for the sake of humanity, but to gain the power to rule it. She couldn't let her brother succeed. Even if he was the only one in the world who had the opportunity to develop a vaccine... he surely didn't deserve it. That wasn't a world she wanted for her and Heero's child.

Relena yanked on the handle, but of course, the door was locked. She picked up a nearby metal trash can and banged it hard against the door with all her force. When the thick glass didn't budge, she swung again. This time the glass shattered with a loud crack into a million pieces, which reflected the red alarm light as if they had been flooded with blood.

Realizing she was still only in a hospital gown and barefoot, Relena carefully stepped over the threshold. Before she continued, she gripped from the floor a narrow, sharp shard of glass - her only weapon - and pushed it inside her pocket.

She cautiously went inside, quietly checking the next rooms of the laboratory that seemed almost identical - all sterile and full of white light. The laboratory was deserted. Here, unlike in the corridor, the lights didn't go out, only red alarms glowed above the doors. Despite the passage of years, the laboratory was full of various types of medical and diagnostic equipment. The amount of machinery was downright puzzling; it was unlikely it would all just be right here after an outbreak day. Relena thought that it was probably stolen...

Ultimately, after a few more minutes of looking, in the room at the far end of the corridor, Relena found a metallic box and inside it - a steel trunk with a familiar glassy vial inside.

She lifted the precious item to her eye level, inspecting it. Thankfully, it was intact, still filled with a gray-brown liquid, although its tip was connected to an air needle - a tiny device that allowed the contents of a tube to be injected without a plunger, by the use of a pressure difference. Relena remembered seeing something like this in her father's lab before...

"Hey, you," Relena whispered, twiddling the object in her hands. She smiled triumphantly to herself, although she was talking into the vial. "Forgive me. I have to get you out of here... "

"Hands off it."

Relena's glance darted up.

On the other side of the room, in the threshold, Dorothy was aiming at her from a gun. Relena didn't hear her coming. Dorothy looked like after a hard fight; she had scorch on the entire surface of her arm, she was covered in blood and dust, and her clothes had multiple burn marks. Her silver eyes were drenched with blood.

"The whole hospital is burning. I don't care anymore. Especially I don't care if you're fucking immune," Dorothy snapped, picking up her shortwave radio. "Let go of this vial, or I'll shoot you like a dog."

x

_Heero POV_

_._

The silence that fell in the command center after Zechs' words was suddenly interrupted by the tinny and cracking sound of an incoming connection from a shortwave radio - the one Zechs brought with him, and that was now lying on one of the desks. Zechs, Noin, and Heero stared at the device as the loud and high-pitched, distorted by waves voice of Dorothy Catalonia, suddenly streamed from the speaker.

"This is Dorothy, I need support. Relena has freed herself and is stealing the prototype. I repeat, support needed in lab number 7, over!"

_Relena-_

It immediately sobered him, bringing Heero back to consciousness. He locked his gaze again at Zechs and Noin, whose faces were distorted in shock and disbelief.

He realized in a flash that the only way to give Relena a chance to fight Dorothy was to keep those two in this place as long as possible.

"This is Dorothy, I really need help in lab number 7, over!"

"The fuck...?!" Zechs gasped.

As he turned on his heel and walked in the direction of the doors, Heero started shooting.

Noin and Zechs ducked down to the ground behind the desks, vanishing from Heero's sight, and he made a dive toward them. "You're NOT getting out of here!"

As he ran, at the last moment, Heero noticed Zechs peek out from behind the overturned metal shelf, aiming at him, and he instantly ducked under the nearby counter before a series of bullets flew over his head. Crawling on the ground, Heero moved behind another desk, and as soon as the series stopped, he leaned out again, shooting.

"Noin, now! RUN!"

The scream came from Zechs, who simultaneously fired at Heero, while the black-haired woman dashed towards the exit from the room…

Keeping his cover, Heero took aim and, without further hesitation, fired a shot that hit the very center of woman's back and made her buckle up.

"NOIN!"

The woman cried of pain and staggered, but before Heero could fire another shot, she managed to slip out of the room.

"Son of a bitch, I'll fucking kill you!" Zechs roared.

Hearing the clump of rapid footsteps, Heero slipped out from behind his cover, shooting at Zechs, who was running at him like an arrow.

He rarely missed all his life.

This time Heero missed… _four_ times.

Zechs rushed up to Heero, knocking the gun out of his hand, then flung Heero to the floor. Hitting with the back of his head against the ground, Heero only managed to helplessly notice his gun plunging under the desk... not far away, less than a meter… from his limp left arm.

_Damn it_.

Then he shot and clenched his right hand around Zechs' forearm, blocking an incoming punch.

"You're like a wounded animal," Zechs growled, eyeing Heero with rage in his gaze, "you're like a deadly shot deer that keeps running away, even though it stumbles against its own guts... You're miserable, only delaying the inevitable...!"

He quickly pulled his arm out of Heero's grasp and inflicted him a hard, painful blow to the jaw, which made Heero see the stars, then rested his forearm on Heero's throat, pressing it against the floor.

Heero was suddenly left out of breath. The man twice his size was pushing at him with all his strength. Heero sank his fingers into Zechs' arm with all his might, then inflicted a blind blow, trying to break free, but with one hand, he had no chance...

"I see it in your eyes!" Zechs roared, pressing his forearm to Heero's neck, pinning him to the floor even harder. "I see that desperate will to live! Are you afraid of dying, Heero Yuy?!"

x

_Meantime_

_._

The stairwell corridor was still lit by pulsating red alarm lights, though she could see the red of her own blood everywhere without it. She smelled and tasted smoke from the burning part of the hospital on the lower floors. She looked down at the palm of her hand, with which she was pressing the wound in her chest. She saw dark red blood - a lot of it.

Feeling her strength draining away, Lucrezia Noin climbed to the upper floor and hurriedly limped towards the laboratories, bouncing from the walls every now and then, leaving bloody streaks on them.

She realized that everything was falling into place: Relena's pregnancy, the attack at their hospital, the smuggler who miraculously survived but had been bitten, and now Relena stealing the vaccine... For Noin, it was clear that all this was aimed at wasting not only their efforts but also the sacrifice of Milliardo's father.

She knew that she had to save the last thing, which gave the world a chance to return to normal. This is what they wanted... That's why they made all those sacrifices…

_All this cannot be in vain...!_

x

_Relena POV_

_._

The stench of fire raging throughout the hospital was already reaching the upper floors, but Dorothy's walkie-talkie remained stubbornly quiet. No response came, nobody reported off. It was clear for both Relena and Dorothy that no one would come.

As Relena regained control of her nerves with each passing second, Dorothy, on the contrary, seemed to be losing it. Ultimately she tossed the shortwave radio on the floor with chafe.

"…you little bitch," Dorothy hissed, narrowing her eyes at Relena, while still keeping her at gunpoint. "You've completely lost your mind. Is pregnancy making women stupid?"

Relena squeezed the glassy vial in her hand, eyeing Dorothy with a hostile glare.

"It could have been so different," Dorothy continued, pacing the lab bench calmly and approaching Relena from the side. "It could have been painless for you, no struggle, no resistance. You would have just got an injection, and it would have been over. You would have been transferred to eternity, and your life would have saved thousands of others. But _oh no_, you preferred differently... you don't care about others... you don't care about the world."

Spreading her arms to keep her balance, Relena slowly moved to the side, walking away from Dorothy, still gazing at her over the barrel of her gun. Looking into Dorothy's silver eyes, filled with rage and madness, Relena felt cold shivers run down her spine.

"The world will remember you as the greatest egoist ever. I wonder if this feeling would chase you for the rest of your life... I wish that guilt eventually rob you of your senses... I fucking hope so...!"

Giggling chillingly, Dorothy sped up like a leopard that was about to pounce on its prey, while Relena kept backing away faster and faster.

"My father sacrificed for this vaccine," Relena declared, her hand tightening around the vial. "For the sake of the memory of him, I can't let you use it as a tool of power!"

"You're still childishly naïve and stupid, just like you were when we first met. Everything has to be explained to you like to a little child," Dorothy snapped impatiently. "Only _we_ can carry the development of this vaccine. And by denying us access to it, you're doing exactly the same what you accuse us of! You just decided over the lives and deaths of thousands of people! What is it if not a massive genocide?!"

Dorothy's finger curled around the trigger, and in that second, Relena ran around the corner, hiding from the shots.

"Now everything is fucked up! You've ruined _everything_!" Dorothy screamed, firing another bullet in her direction. "Come out!"

Gasping in terror, Relena quickly crawled on bent knees along the rows of low lab cabinets. She kept hearing Dorothy's rushed footsteps behind her, and another shot flew just above her head. She managed to hide behind a row of lockers when more bullets ricocheted on the floor right next to her feet…

_Oh god_..._!_

Tucking the vial with the vaccine to the pocket of her hospital gown, Relena quickly got up and stood on unsteady, trembling legs, then moved silently along the lockers to another row of lab tables.

She kept hearing Dorothy's careful, slow footsteps…

"I said: _come out_, slut!" Dorothy shouted, stopping at the end of the alley.

Relena felt how difficult it was to keep her balance on her legs, which were shaking with fear. Her hands, sweating from stress, left wet marks on the sterile lab tops. She felt as if there was no more oxygen in the room. She took steps blindly, moving as far as possible from the inevitably approaching Dorothy, whom she could only hear coming, but could not see... In a small laboratory room, she was quickly running out of places to hide, she had no weapons... and she was being chased by a bloodthirsty madwoman with a gun.

_God… God!_

Her chances were very low, and she was helplessly scared. All she could do was to stay low and continue moving away from Dorothy, as noiselessly as possible.

Then suddenly, on the ground next to her, she noticed several empty, broken glass packages. Relena stopped, grabbed one, and tossed it in the direction of the opposite row, between the lab tables.

When the sound of breaking glass reverberated in the room, she heard Dorothy's sigh of surprise, then the tap of her heels as she began to walk briskly towards the source of the noise.

Holding her breath, Relena peeked out from her hiding place to notice that the blonde took a bait and had just passed her without seeing her - finally turning with her back to her…

"I'll kill you bitch," Dorothy muttered under her breath, "I'll finish what I failed in Atlanta..."

That moment Relena felt this shudder that ran down her spine… It was an impulse, a cry of survival instinct, and Relena surrendered herself entirely to it. Her only weapon, the shard of glass she had previously taken from the corridor and surreptitiously pocketed, suddenly seemed to fit perfectly into her hand…

She crawled out from her hiding spot and moving while crouching she tracked Dorothy, who still hadn't heard her...

Relena had seen Heero doing it a hundred times. She remembered how he had followed his target completely unnoticed; then, after closing on, he had bounced off the ground like a wild cat and attacked his victims from behind their backs, killing them instantly… Now Relena was acting on the same autopilot, her will, and her body desperate and programmed on only one task: to be the one who would survive, the _one who would leave this room alive_.

When Dorothy slowed down for a brief moment, looking around... Relena attacked. Dorothy only managed to groan in surprise as a shard of glass sank deep into her throat, and the air she was breathing lost its only way into her lungs. Relena held her for a long time in an iron grip, releasing the woman only when her limp body slipped from her hands.

"Oh, fuck…!"

Still holding the piece of glass in her bloody hand, Relena was breathing quickly and heavily, gazing at Dorothy's body on the ground. Long-haired blonde's silver eyes froze forever in an expression of shock and disbelief. Backing away in terror, Relena couldn't control the trembling of her hands... only after a few more, long seconds, weakly, she unclenched her stiff fingers and dropped a piece of blood-stained glass to the floor.

As if trying to remember what she had come here for, she numbly reached to her pocket and pulled out a vaccine vial, staining it in red with her fingers. The awareness of what she had just done terrified Relena even more than things that this woman threatened her with... _She didn't want it… she had to do this…_

What had happened, what had she done, slowly reached her... But it wasn't the moment for pricks of conscience…

She should be running away now...

As she turned on her heel, she stopped short in front of…

Lucrezia Noin.

"I won't let you go away," Noin declared with a hoarse voice.

The doctor was blocking the only way out of the laboratory, holding a gun in both outstretched hands. Her overall was all covered in blood... it was obviously her blood. Relena froze with the vial in her clenched fist, staring helplessly at the barrel, aimed at the center of her chest.

This time there was no way to run.

Noin gritted her teeth against the pain as she looked down at Dorothy's body and then at the vial in Relena's hand.

"How many more people are to die...?" Noin gasped, the look in her eyes almost desperate and broken-hearted. "Is it not enough that for so many years we have been looking for what you want to waste with such ease? Do all these human sacrifices... really mean nothing to you...?"

"I…" Relena whispered, but Noin continued. Her hands were trembling now almost as intensely as Relena's.

"Think about what you're doing, Relena... It cannot be undone… For you, it's only _one_ person... while in a few months, this vaccine could save the whole world...!"

Relena's heart skipped a beat.

"What-"

All of a sudden, Lucrezia Noin let out a hollow cry, and her body arched backward. Her smock tainted even redder with the flowing blood, and the gun slipped from her hands.

Relena looked up, taken aback. A male figure towered above the raven-black haired woman, delivering the fatal blow with a sharp weapon from behind the woman's back.

"God will never… forgive you this…!"

These were Lucrezia Noin's last words before her purple eyes froze and crept with a curtain of death.

"Didn't you people realize that already?" Relena heard an impatient, low, _familiar_, manly voice, "God doesn't care."

x

_Heero POV_

_._

He was losing consciousness. Darkness quickly surrounded him and enveloped his mind like a soft, impermeable duvet. The pain of his open wounds slowly faded away, as did the pain of slow death from suffocation.

Then, suddenly the grip on his throat loosened, and his lungs contracted painfully, drawing in the longed-for breath once again and bringing him back to life. When Zechs Merquise unexpectedly lifted his weight off his chest and let him go, Heero began to cough and desperately pant at the same time. He rolled over, blood pulsing in his temples, suffering a knackering cough that was burning his lungs...

And then he felt a _rigor_.

A robust and painful _shudder_ that ran through his right arm at the speed of light. With horror, Heero realized that he had absolutely no control over it.

As he gasped for air again, the tremble reappeared, forcing him to bend his knees up to his chest. The veins in his right arm burned as if no blood, but lava flowed through them, melting his skin and spreading over his body. He wanted to curse, but his throat was tightened, and he only let out a broken grunt. Though he didn't want to be aware of it, he could feel _fear_ slowly overwhelming him and exacerbating his pain... The shudder disappeared for a few seconds and then came back, hitting his body with doubled strength like a lightning strike, throwing his head back and clenching his fingers against his will so hard that the whiteness of his bones showed through his skin...

"This is the end, smuggler," Heero heard Zechs' voice above him, though couldn't see him. "You're losing feeling in your limbs. Soon you're going to lose your minds…"

Lying on his side, Heero closed his eyes shut, gasping for breath, his body tensed and shuddering. He didn't try to defend himself anymore, he didn't try to fight... He waited for the familiar sound of the cocked gun, and the shot of a bullet that would penetrate his brain and mercifully end this suffering...

But then, he heard something that _terrified_ him to the core: the departing footsteps.

"I got used to leaving you alive... this time, _Cordyceps_ will definitely finish the job for me. Fare thee well, smuggler."

_No_

Though every cell in his brain desperately tried to make him get up, Heero wasn't able to control his martyred body enough to get so quickly back on his feet. He rolled onto his stomach and sucked air into his lungs through clenched teeth at the same second when Zechs Merquise slammed all the doors to the administration wing with a loud thud…

…leaving him alive only to turn into _this_.

His mouth was dry; the thirst he experienced was overwhelming and painful. He couldn't curb his thoughts that were stirring in his mind, like whirlpools in the river's torrent, leading him to think only about…

_hunger_

Then his head started pounding with an exhausting, violent headache that instantly blinded him… It felt as if his brain was _sprawling_… as if _something_ was smashing his skull from the inside out...

He let out a long, agonizing cry of pain and took his head in his trembling right hand as if it might help him contain the boiling he felt under his bones of the cranium and under his skin, every inch of which was blazing with fire.

With the last of his strength, he clung to the memories of the most beautiful moments in his life. The images flashed before his eyes, like a movie played at an accelerated pace as if his brain realized how little time he had…

"_Heero!"_

They were all only with _her_… Always smiling at him, calling him by his name.

"_You were right about the shooting stars. They do grant wishes."_

"_Heero… I can't hold it back anymore. I want to stay by your side, no matter… if we ever manage to get to Houston."_

"_I love you, Heero."_

"_You can't die… you can't leave me here…"_

He saw her through his closed eyelids.

She was dancing gingerly around him, spinning, tilting her head back, spreading her arms as if she was about to fly up into the air. The pale blue dress she was wearing on that party night was spreading around her like a celestial aureole. She was approaching him, he could smell the faint flowery fragrance of her hair, the scent of her skin... Then she stopped, and she looked at him with sad but wise eyes, just as when they said goodbye at Evergreen.

_Relena-_

Though he was reaching out to her, he couldn't touch her anymore, and she didn't come any nearer to him, resting her hand on a particular spot in the curve of her belly just below her heart.

…the bitter heartache that struck him then had absolutely nothing to do with the virus.

_I'm so sorry, Relena._

"I'm not… afraid to die…!," Heero gasped, his body ultimately slowly lifting itself from the floor onto knees, and standing up, staggering.

Then his throat tightened, and he spoke a word in a human language no more.

_I just wish… I had lived-_

_just a little bit-_

_longer…_

_._

_**The end of Heero's POV**_

* * *

TBC

…

Next chapter: "The Death Zone." Two chapters left.

"_**Even when hope is unjustified, and doubt and despair are more than justified, a man clings not to despair, but to this absurd hope**__."_

_\- quote translated by me, from polish novelist Maria Dabrowska_


	45. Chapter 45 - The Death Zone

.

**Chapter 45 - The Death Zone**

_WARNING: mild-explicit moments ahead._

_**Relena POV**_

_._

"…Trowa?"

The tall, green-eyed man tossed Lucrezia Noin's body aside, then ran up to Relena, who slumped over onto the floor. He kneeled at her, grasped her shoulders gently and brushed her hair out of her face. There was a mixture of anxiety and relief in his eyes, obscured by long, hazelnut bangs. "Relena! Are you all right...? You're all covered in blood-"

Relena stared back at her Evergreen friend, still unsure if it was really him or if her stressed mind was playing tricks on her.

"It's… not mine..." a shaky voice eventually left Relena's mouth as she quickly and imperceptibly hid the vial in the pocket of her hospital gown before Trowa could notice it. "Dear God, Trowa... What are you doing here? You came all the way from Evergreen…?"

"We've come here with Quatre-" he started, but then suddenly stopped short, as if he wanted to avoid saying one word out of line. "It's so good that we found you-"

"Relena!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Relena looked up to notice Quatre running to them from the direction of the corridor leading to the stairwell. She felt her heart pound faster with emotion and relief at the sight of her beloved friend. Reaching Relena, the blonde man touched his boyfriend's shoulder briefly and knowingly, then knelt at her side and hugged her - just like that. His clothes smelled of smoke and gasoline. He was breathing heavily as if he was running here on last legs, and his chest was pulsating, his heart almost popping out of his chest. "Relena! Thank God, you're all right!"

"…Quatre!" Relena whispered as she returned his hug, trying hard to hold back her tears, but it was in vain. The feeling of helplessness, long-lasting stress and fear of her prolonged, uneven battle for survival started pouring out of her when she finally felt safe in the boys' presence. Even if her pride wanted her to stay tough, the will to let herself a moment of weakness and vulnerability, share the grief and sadness that pierced her body, ultimately prevailed. Everything that happened during that day was already too much to bear, unbearably painful. So Relena nestled her crying face in Quatre's chest; she wanted to speak so badly, but her voice kept cracking. "Oh, God, Quatre... Heero- Heero is... he had been-"

"…Relena, I'm so sorry," he sighed comfortingly, hugging her tightly and stroking the back of her head commiseratively. Relena realized that he seemed to be guessing what happened to Heero, he didn't need any more words, which was a relief for her. Quatre Raberba Winner simply cradled her in his embrace, and that was everything she needed at that moment.

Then Relena heard Trowa's silent but urging voice. "We have to get you out of here. This whole wing is on fire. It will reach this lab soon."

Without arguing, Relena nodded silently, bucking up and quitting her sobbing, but as soon as Quatre pulled back… she noticed _something_ that made her heart stop.

She reached out and gripped the barrel of the shotgun that was slung over the blonde man's arm.

"-where did you get it from?" she asked in a trembling voice.

An awkward silence fell in the room, while Trowa and Quatre looked at each other with unreadable glances.

"It's Heero's shotgun-!" Relena continued. "Where did you get it from?"

"Relena, this isn't the time..." Quatre began in a confident voice, but for some reason, he struggled hard to not look at her. "Come on, we need to run-"

The blonde man tugged at Relena's arm to help her get up, but Relena wrenched her arm away from his grip. She narrowed her eyes with distrust at both men who, for some inexplicable reason, apparently refused to say anything that made sense.

"Stop deceiving me! Tell me, where did you get that shotgun from!"

When they still didn't reply a single word but exchanged apparently stressed glances, Relena felt conflicting emotions welling up inside her heart like two opposing ocean currents: first of her senses that already acknowledged Heero's death, and second of some intangible intuition that would never allow her to fully accept it. Her hands began to tremble as she hardly resisted the urge to fling herself at the men and screw the truth out of their throats with her own hands. And though she realized that the presence of this shotgun could mean so many different things... only _one_ of the possibilities was true to her.

"Where is he...?" Relena asked again, barely controlling her voice.

"He is dying."

Everyone faced the direction from which came this cold, low voice.

In the threshold of the entrance to the laboratories stood a tall, handsome man with long, fair hair and fixed eyes. He was panting as if he just finished an exhausting run but appeared so imperceptibly as if he flew here with the back smoke, not betraying himself with his footsteps. His broad chest was quickly rising and falling, a chain with a silver nocturnal insect floated dangling on his neck, glowing in the white, laboratory light.

"Milliardo-" Relena gasped, standing up on her feet, but when _his words_ reached her, she staggered, feeling faint…

Zechs Merquise stood still, his gaze locked at the raven-haired doctor's body that was lying in the pool of blood on the laboratory's floor of lino tiles. Though he held no weapon in his hands, Quatre and Trowa immediately shielded Relena with their own bodies and aimed their guns at the man, but Relena walked from behind them and neared her brother. Zechs glanced at Quatre, as f he remembered him, but didn't say anything.

"Milliardo," Relena addressed him again, stepping forward, quickly gathering strength and courage to face any truth that her brother had about Heero. There was no point in looking in her fearless and determined posture for the broken, despairing woman she had been in Quatre's arms only a few moments ago. Now she could hardly control the frantic, warlike pounding of her own heart, beating so fast as if it suddenly remembered that still had something to live for. She needed to know the truth… whatever it was.

"Where's he…? Where's Heero?"

The man with pale blue eyes didn't answer right away, and each passing second of uncertainty was leaving her breathless. Instead, Zechs Merquise lowered his head, his regretful eyes still locked at Lucrezia Noin's lifeless body. Watching him, Relena realized that something about his posture and expression was changing. His hands were stained with blood and clenched into fists. His eyes lost their luster, seemed dimmed, as if all life had escaped from them. His face was gray as if he had aged several decades...

"He's here," he eventually muttered, "but he's not himself anymore."

Relena held her breath; she needed no more words to understand what had happened.

For the shortest moment, the flaring hope in her shuddered like a flame of a candle suddenly brought into the raging snowstorm. Nothing, however, was able to completely snuff it. Relena clung to that hope like a drowning person to a drifting piece of wood - if she had let go, she would have drowned…

"Where is he…?" she asked again, but when nothing but silence answered her, her voice cracked. "Milliardo, please…! Tell me where I can find him…!"

Zechs didn't even look up at her, and every second of quiet on his part felt like the most calculated and sophisticated torture. Once again, regret welled up in Relena's heart as she realized that Milliardo Peacecraft had indeed ceased to exist and that only the ruthless and devoid of humanity, self-proclaimed messiah Zechs Merquise was left in this body.

The one she shouldn't seek any help from.

Meanwhile, the fire raging in the hospital reached the main corridor and was about to attack the stairwell leading down. They could already hear the sounds of glass cracking at high temperatures and distant explosions.

"You should get out of here," Zechs eventually said with an indifferent voice, without even looking at his sister. "There're no Fireflies here anymore. No one will stop you."

Relena lowered her head and felt Quatre tugging at her hand. "Relena, we have to go…"

Surrendering, Relena allowed him to led her past the motionless Milliardo when the tall man suddenly reached out to her, gripping her hand. Quatre and Trowa immediately reacted, almost shooting him at sight, but he just pressed something inside Relena's palm.

When she looked down, she realized that it was a tiny silver key.

"He's in the administrative wing," Milliardo whispered as he finally looked up at her.

The siblings' eyes met, in each of them a mixture of hatred, longing, regret, and pleas for forgiveness. It was at this point that Relena saw, for the first time in twenty years, in fixed Zechs' Merquise eyes, the familiar glow of her brother's kind and protective gaze. That he looked similar to their father at this age, but his eyes were always like their mother's. There was something intangible between them that only the two of them knew about, and despite so many years of separation, they could still understand each other without words.

That moment, when Milliardo sent her this hard look, the content of Relena's shirt pocket felt heavy like a volcanic granite.

The fire finally crawled into the corridor, its yellow flames spilling over the lab rooms like lava tongues, and black, toxic smoke filled the air. Without taking her eyes off her brother, Relena felt Quatre drag her toward the exit once again. He and Trowa kept talking something to her in nervous voices, but she heard them like through the fog.

Her brother's face was calm; she realized he was staying here.

"Go now," _Milliardo_ urged them. "Take care, little sister."

Feeling Quatre's sharp tug pulling her towards the exit, Relena reached out and, for the last time, touched her brother's shoulder thoughtfully and whispered:

"Goodbye, Milliardo."

Anything else they could tell each other _had_ _to_ be left unspoken. This was the price for the choices each of them made. But the last glances they exchanged were full of peace. And only peace.

Relena, Quatre, and Trowa ran into the stairwell at the last second before it got engulfed by the fire. At that moment, there was no other way out of this floor.

The last man knelt by the body of the black-haired woman and took her cold hand.

"Just you two," he whispered as the fire began to digest the flammable substances stored inside the lab, and the room filled with the ominous sound of exploding glass, "stubbornly kept calling me by my real name."

x

"_No_. I won't leave him like that."

"But you can't help him anymore," Trowa insisted. "There's nothing you can do."

Relena swallowed these words but said nothing in reply, fixing her eyes on the floor and clenching her fists at her sides. They were arguing like that for several long minutes already, standing next to the skywalk to the administration wing. Thankfully, the spreading fire almost didn't reach this part of the building.

Behind that door was Heero, and knowing that, Relena wouldn't move even an inch away from this place of her own free will. In the meantime, Quatre and Trowa were slowly running out of arguments to make her run with them.

"I'm begging you, Relena," Quatre continued tirelessly. "We need to go. We promised Heero that we would get you safely out of here. He confided you to us. You want us to disappoint this trust?"

Hearing Quatre's words, Relena sighed on the outside, though cursed with uncontrollable anger in her soul. _It was so much his style._.. He had done the same thing in Evergreen: he had handed her over to safe hands like a valuable item, in case he didn't come back.

This time, unlike in Evergreen, she wasn't going to let go though she felt more and more desperate. _How in the world could I explain it to them…? _"Quatre, I can't leave without seeing him again..."

Quatre opened his mouth to protest once more, but then Relena walked over and took his hands in hers in a begging gesture. "That's the only thing I'm asking you... just let me go to him."

Quatre shook his head and breathed heavily, eying her with a tired, but sincerely heartbroken gaze.

"Relena. I'll repeat that as many times as I have to: he was bitten in the morning, it's already evening, the sun is about to set. There's _no_ chance that he would still be conscious-"

"I don't care if he's conscious," Relena interrupted him, barely controlling her voice from cracking up, then looked at Trowa as well. "I'm begging you both. Go downstairs and get the horses ready. I'll come down to you, just…" she trailed off, "let me say goodbye."

She watched their expressions change as they hesitated. _Yes_, she thought, sensing the weight of her not yet committed sin already prick on her conscience, _you would never understand me... if you only knew... you would have never forgiven me_.

…_And maybe rightly so._

"I can't get infected… if he bites me, I'll survive this," Relena continued with a silent voice. "But if I leave this place with you now, knowing that in those final moments he's out there alone, slowly turning into one of these things... _this_ I won't survive. Do you understand me?"

After a moment of silence, they ultimately surrendered.

Trowa grasped his gun, cocked it, and after a short reflection, pressed it into Relena's hands. "If you'd want to end it quick… Aim at the head."

Relena took the gun in her trembling hand, then nodded. "I know what to do. I'll be all right."

"You must be very careful, Relena… He's-" Trowa continued, "not human anymore."

"…I know."

Though her voice was silent and hollow, Relena didn't lower her eyes even for a moment, eying both men with a glare. She knew that looking down would be a sign of weakness for which those two were waiting for, and after which, they wouldn't let her go there.

"When you're _done_…" Quatre continued, "go down these stairs. We're waiting for you. But if you won't come in half an hour-"

"Quatre-" she interrupted him, with the last of her strength keeping her voice and expression composed. "Please... Go."

When they eventually walked down the staircase and left her alone, Relena breathed deeply, then turned to face the wide doors to the administrative wing. She stood for another long moment in the middle of the destroyed corridor, where the smoke of the burnt hospital floors was still lingering, listening to the receding footsteps on the stairs.

When silence and stillness surrounded her, Relena hid Trowa's gun into the pocket of her hospital gown and used the key that she received from Milliardo, unlocking the wide wooden door. The old lock snapped open with a loud crash that echoed in the hallway, and the heavy door creaked on its rusty hinges.

That moment a disturbing and severe chill pierced her body as if she opened the door to the death zone; it struck her that once she walked through, there would be no turning back.

"_Before we go… could you at least tell us your name?"_

"_Heero Yuy."_

Seeing the memories from the past flashing right before her eyes, and almost hearing Heero's distant voice in her head, Relena stepped confidently into the skywalk to the administration wing. Before she continued, she locked the door behind her with the same key, making sure nobody would follow her and then walked straight ahead.

With every step, she felt fear, not knowing what's awaiting her.

Passing subsequent doors that were left half-open, she entered the spacious, screened open space, crammed with overturned working desks, metal boxes, rubbish, and broken glass. The room was bathed with the dim, blood-red light of the setting sun, which made each object cast a long, frightening shadow, and the air was filled with the intermittent sound of heavy, hurried _breaths_...

Her eyes quickly followed the wafting sound, and finally… Relena noticed _him_.

Her heart stopped at the macabre view, her hand flew up to cover her mouth and mute her horrified gasp.

He was standing with his back to her, doubled over, straddling on slightly bent legs. His right leg was bandaged where it had been nailed to the wall, right above the knee. His long shirt was torn in pieces, and he was wearing only a black tank top that exposed his mutilated and wounded body. There was hardly any place on his skin that wasn't pierced, bruised, blood-stained, or glistening with sweat... A white band of untied bandage hung from his neck - his left arm should have probably been held on a sling, but that moment that arm was hanging utterly inert at his side, like a mourning banderole, dripping with blood oozing from his wounds.

He wasn't moving the fingers of that hand…

"_I'm nobody special, Relena. Nobody worth talking about."_

Scattered memories of his words from the months they spent together kept coming back, as if trying to falsify the reality, against all the odds. But with every passing second, Relena realized that Milliardo was right. Heero Yuy's _body_ was still alive, but _he_ wasn't _himself_ anymore.

Relena swallowed, feeling her whole body chill with overwhelming terror, and clenched her fists as she slowly, noiselessly approached him from the side, sensing that _the worst_ was yet for her to see...

She couldn't see his face as it was hidden behind a curtain of his bangs, matted with sweat and blood. Heero's right hand was swollen and convulsed like a claw, and he kept nervously, sharply scratching the top of his head, as if he was trying to dig a _hole_ in his skull... He was doing it so hard that his fingers were already covered in blood. His tense shoulders trembled in repetitive convulsions, and he kept letting out loud grunts and groans in pain.

"_Stay away from me… One more step… _

_and I will kill you."_

The hellish sounds that kept coming out from the inside of his body chilled the blood in her veins.

"Heero..."

Her broken whisper was so soft and silent that it dissolved into the air filled with his tormented groans. He couldn't have heard her.

Relena swallowed hard, trying to control the trembling of her hands. It hurt her just to look at him as if she was going through the same painful transformation, and her brain was overrun with a bloodthirsty fungus, too... She unclenched and clenched both fists, keeping her hands close to her body, and took a few more steps closer to his side.

"_You asked me about my good memories… I don't have many. But this will be the first in years."_

As she stood at the arm's length from him, she felt her heart tremble with terror and despair even more. From there, she saw in full detail how the terrible wounds he had suffered during the torture and fight... she looked for a moment in silence at his slim, strong, fit body that protected her and made love to her during these last months... now battered, shattered, suffering…

Her heart sobbed as she looked at the extent of the pain he had went… and was still going through.

"Heero," she called him by his name again, louder this time, and he finally reacted. His body froze still as if petrified, but Relena found the courage and strength to whisper: "...It's me."

Another rigor shook his body, he let out a guttural roar as if he choked, and he turned around abruptly.

Relena was left breathless and frightened as he faced her.

It was almost impossible to recognize him, practically unthinkable to distinguish anything human in this horrific face... His features were distorted with pain, his eyes were rolled back, blood and saliva streamed from his mouth and nose…

"_My life… only makes sense if it serves to protect you."_

And then... all of a sudden… he attacked.

At the speed of light, he aggressively lunged at her, reaching for her throat. The fierceness and rapidity of his movements caused her to stumble back until she felt the resistance of the wall behind her back. Hitting with her back against the pillar, Relena let out a broken cry and lifted her arms over her head in a defensive gesture.

She dodged, _somehow_ moving out from his reach for a split of a second; Heero's hand slipped from her neck, his nails leaving red scratch marks on the skin of her chest and ripping her cowries pendant.

Breathing heavily with terror, with her eyes shut, Relena stood in place, cringed, keeping her arms up over her head, expecting another immediate assault from him...

But he stopped.

Relena opened her eyes and gazed at Heero again, lowering her arms. Watching his form, as he stood only a few meters from her, Relena realized that _maybe he was still _

_there_

The infected _never_ let it go at the first attack.

Heero held his head low, the broken pendant he had given her was hanging sadly, hooked between his crooked, trembling, blood-soaked fingers. Then another long, nightmarish rigor shook his body. His strained, shuddering shoulders rose and fell with frantic panting that kept dangerously accelerating. He doubled over, uttering prolonged, guttural grunts...

Then a tormented cry left his throat…

He was suffering…

"_I would gladly give my life for you… you would be better off without me."_

Relena felt helpless and painful despair overwhelm her at the sound of his cries.

The stubborn voice of reason told her to grab the object in her pocket and _end_ Heerp's suffering once and for all... because counting on hope seemed way too _exaggerated_ here. The marks of his nails left on her chest burned her painfully, just a harbinger of what he was capable of doing to her…

"It's okay," she whispered, her voice perfectly calm and gentle, as she confidently took a step in his direction. "I'm right here, Heero…"

Her voice triggered a shock that tossed his body. He threw himself in her direction again, but then stopped precipitously and let out a long groan of pain - as if his moves were directed by some invisible strings… as if he was only a disobedient theatrical puppet, jiggled by his master.

It was clear that any resistance on his part was futile, and he would soon succumb. But at that moment, Relena stopped being afraid of _him_.

_What she was about to do_ filled her with fear.

She sucked air into her lungs, feeling her entire body tremble with almost the same force.

"…the hell is wrong with you!?" she whispered with remorse and grief, but then her voice gradually turned louder. "_You_ were always the only one to never give up! Why did you give up now?!"

Another jerk of _strings_… the bloodthirsty _puppet_ made of Heero's body thrashed around, as if resisting the urge to get closer to her, and moaned like a broken toy, and it seemed to Relena that the sound had something of a _protest_ to it.

"You should live! You should live a long life by my side so that I can love you... You should live to see a child who will love you back purely, unconditionally...!" her voice broke, but she caught her breath. "You have _so much_ loving yet to feel…! _This_ is not how it should be-"

But then that was it.

Every puppet has to give up at last to the will of the puppet master, and eventually, Heero went violently at her again, like a wild animal.

This time he got her immediately and forcefully, covering her with his body.

Her knees buckled under his weight, and Relena slipped to the floor, hitting the pillar with her back again. Though he attacked her with only one hand, he had superhuman strength, and his grip hurt as if he could break her bones.

With a sharp tug, he blindly ripped the neckline of her hospital gown, pressed his fingers into her arm to hold her in place, and then… Relena felt a sudden, acute pain as his teeth dug into the exposed flesh just below her left clavicle.

The dizzyingly intense pain shocked and blinded her, her body fiercely shuddered, and she was left out of breath. She _felt_ him ripping and tearing her skin and flesh apart with his teeth, her hot blood flowing down her chest... Letting out a loud cry, she instinctively braced her hands on his shoulders, futilely trying to push him away and groaned in pain when he dug deeper and deeper into her with each passing second.

He was _devouring_ her.

"Heero-"

Blood boiled inside her, pulsed in her temples, blew out her skull from the inside out. She had never felt such excruciating pain in her life. Her whole body and consciousness, along with her instincts, _screamed_ for her to run away... to defend herself against a bloodthirsty beast that wasn't _her Heero_ anymore... But instead of trying to push a voracious beast away and struggle to run, she wrapped her arm around his neck as if he was a long-lost lover.

Then, with her other hand, she reached to her pocket. Time seemed to slow down. She could barely control the tremor in her hands… but the cold object fitted _perfectly_ in the palm of her hand…

"_I'll never leave you alone again."_

"I love you-" she whined with a weak voice, lifting the object in her hand to the back of his head.

_God, forgive me_, she prayed in her thoughts but knew there was no forgiveness for her.

…

Time stopped.

Suddenly all the chaos ceased, and the room had fallen back into an ominous silence.

A few moments later, Heero's body tightened all the way before turning deathly limp. His jaw loosened its pressure on her skin, and he slumped with his head onto her lap. His right arm, clenched painfully around her shoulders a second earlier, eased and slid off her, hitting the floor with a dull thud, then his whole body dropped off her lap and crashed to the floor right next to her.

Relena breathed hard, stunned, too afraid to look down on him.

She reached and gently stroked his head with her trembling fingers...

…

He didn't move.

Tears started to run down her cheeks.

She brushed his hair nervously, stroked his temples and neck, his cheeks and shoulders... The light of the setting sun left red streaks in his hair and his _still_, finally peaceful face; it was hard to tell if it was just light or blood… his or hers.

More and more tears kept coming, running down her neck and through the wound in her chest that started pinching painfully from the salty taste.

Weeping loudly, she leaned over him and cradled his head to her heart. "I'm so sorry…!"

The sleeping sun painted the room in apocalyptic red light, and the air trembled, reverberating her sorrowful cry.

.

.

.

* * *

…could such a deed be _ever_ forgiven?

What choice did Relena make? Was it the right choice? Whom does she ask for forgiveness?

Did she kill Heero?

.

To be continued… and to be **ended**… in the next chapter.

"The Life That Will Always Go On."


	46. Chapter 46 - The Life That Will Always

.

**Chapter 46 - The Life That Will Always Go On**

_**One month later**_

_October_

_._

_Relena POV_

_._

She closed her eyes and took an exaggeratedly deep breath.

Tilting her head slightly back, she involuntarily smiled as she smelled the distant, fresh whiff of the ocean again. Imperceptible before, at that moment, this familiar, salty scent was perfectly distinguishable, carried with a cool breeze throughout the vastness of the swamps.

_Ah, now I see._

She slowly opened her eyes. _We're close_…

"Relena! Look!"

Standing right next to her, Quatre pointed at something far in front of them. Surprised, Relena gazed at the pointed direction, shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Wow...!," she gasped at the blissful view.

In the distance, in the green swamps and the reeds, she noticed a flock of white and black colored cranes. They were steeping up, running on their long, thin legs, stretching slender necks forward, then all of them, sequentially, spread their wings and took off. Although they seemed large and powerful as they stepped on the ground, they hovered in the air as if they weighed absolutely nothing - dignified and graceful.

Relena, Quatre, and Trowa stopped their horses and gazed enchanted at the majestic birds that flew a circle over the surrounding green swamps. Their loud and shrill unison call was carried by the wind through the wastelands.

"I know those birds," Quatre muttered, "I remember that they were on the verge of extinction before the outbreak… What are they called…?"

"Whooping cranes," Trowa said without taking his eyes off the birds. "I've never seen so many of them."

"They're stunning..." Relena couldn't take her eyes off their broad, white wings, rising with the wind in such harmony as if they were the unity with it.

And suddenly, a thought that lingered in her head slipped out her mouth:

"I wish Heero saw them…"

Only the shrill call of the flying cranes broke the sullen silence that fell between Relena and her companions as she spoke those words.

Another moment passed before Quatre rode his horse closer to Relena, and she felt the comforting touch of his hand on her shoulder, along with the concerned tone of his voice. "Relena…"

Relena sighed, then faced her friend with a gentle, almost inconspicuous smile. "Can we take a break soon?" she asked as if nothing happened, her hand resting on the more and more precisely outlined curve of her belly. "I need to pee, and I'm so hungry…"

Quatre blinked, and then he kindly smiled at her and at Trowa. "Of course. The sun's going to set soon anyway. We can make a stop right there."

As she rode her horse Treaty a few hundred yards to the berth where they planned to spend a night, Relena looked over her shoulder at the burning sky again. The cranes made another circle around them, then landed in tandem, like a giant white plane on the surface of one of the lakes. She realized that the first time she had made her way through these swamps, she didn't see those birds... _maybe they flew here for wintering_-

As usual, Quatre obsessively persisted in helping her get off her horse, to which Relena ultimately had to agree. As she carefully landed on the ground, grasping her friend's hand, she made a sigh and smiled with a slight embarrassment.

"You don't have to worry about me that much, Quatre. Pregnancy's not an illness... and I have had many dangerous adventures during my pregnancy so far."

Quatre smiled his natural, heart-warming smile in reply. "Relena, please… If this isn't a burden for you... let us help you in any way possible. Especially now."

Relena bowed her head and objected no more. Maybe he was right. _Why always pretend to be so strong and invincible_...? Under the facade of the tough girl and the reconciled survivor, there was her "second self" hidden - still trembling and heartbroken, suffering from unhealing loss and longing. She had hoped it would be easier for her with each passing day, but it wasn't so, and with each passing day, she awoke with even greater anxiety in her heart.

The sun went down very quickly that evening, and the night fell on the surrounding swamps like a black curtain. The night's onset was accompanied by nature's orchestral concert: from the croaking of frogs to the persistent humming of mosquitoes.

Towards evening, Relena took a nap, feeling extremely tired from the road, and when she woke up, the moon was already hanging high on the dark sky, shining like a pale sun.

Trowa and Quatre were seated by the crackling bonfire, both immersed in their silent thoughts. Relena realized that they probably didn't want to wake her. It wasn't until she sat down next to them that they dared to speak.

"I was convinced you wouldn't wake up until the morning," Quatre joked. "I mean, you slept so soundly."

Relena smiled at them, crossing her arms over her chest and hiding her hands under her armpits. The October night in the marshes was much colder than expected, but the fire was giving them enough of pleasant warmth.

"I'm a sound sleeper. Heero was always-"

Her voice died in her throat, and she bowed her head, letting out a remorseful, resigned sigh. She felt even colder as if the warmth from the fire wasn't enough. The longing for him was slowly becoming unbearable, even mentioning him didn't relieve her of pain. The unspeakable weight that she was carrying within her heart nearly took her breath away, while Trowa and Quatre gazed at each other, mutely over the dancing flames.

_It's been over a month now._

During that time, Relena realized that each of them went through the mourning in a completely different way. Each of them had a different relationship with Heero. To Quatre, Heero was one of the few people who knew about him and Trowa, while Trowa, on the other hand, owed Heero his life, and was convinced that he had failed to pay the debt. Despite this, none of the boys even tried to appropriate the feelings of loss and grief exclusively for themselves. In their eyes, what they felt was no match for the loss that Relena had suffered.

But the looks they exchanged that night… Relena realized that they were different than before.

Since they left Houston, each conversation had to end with one and only outcome: _Heero_. With a recollection of what he had done, obviously rarely of what he had said. During the day, memories swelled in their hearts, and in the evenings, those remembrances and accompanying emotions kept flowing out of them like from a life-giving spring. It was fascinating to observe how differently each of them remembered Heero, how different details each of them paid attention to. By cause of these memories - funny and scary ones, of the everyday life's moments and of the blood-curdling skirmishes, the well-known ones and those told for the very first time - it seemed to them that they were bringing him back to life. That wherever he was, they were drawing him closer to them, allowing him to sit among them by the bonfire even for a brief moment - but when the fire was dying, he was leaving them again, heading in whichever direction dead souls would go.

It was hard to resist the feeling that Heero Yuy was repeatedly rising from the dead and dying every night.

Like someone smart once shrewdly had stated, _mourning's for the tough ones_, as it's all about deliberately inflicting yourself pain with memories over and over again. Anyone can be a masochist - some even call life 'the greatest form of masochism' - but not everyone perseveres in this idleness for long.

That evening Relena sensed that for Quatre and Trowa would very soon come a particular moment, in which they would get up and say, "The things are as follows: Heero is dead, but we're alive. We must get over it. We must live on."

What she also knew was that for her, this moment wasn't meant to come.

"When we return to Evergreen, we'll take care of you," Quatre suddenly stated. He looked at Relena with a patient yet so sympathetic gaze that she _almost_ wanted to blindly believe him. "We'll provide you with a home, Sally and Catherine will help you during the pregnancy… then with the baby."

"We'll do everything we can to make Evergreen feel like home to you," continued Trowa. "You won't have to worry about anything. We owe it to him."

Relena smiled wistfully at them while her hand tightened in the air just above the collarbone. She still involuntarily wanted to catch her cowries pendant, the only present she ever had got from him, but it was gone, lost some time in Houston's hospital. Relena sighed; she couldn't get used to the feeling that she didn't have it anymore…

Instead, her fingers gently brushed the scarring-over wound just below her left clavicle: the only one he'd ever inflicted on her. As she expected, her immunity had worked. She couldn't get infected. Over time, the bite healed properly, and she hadn't worn a dressing for several days already.

But the wounds that were scarring her soul healed much worse. They required much more drastic measures. And the right time for this finally came.

Relena was aware of this, although she wanted to spend the last evening with her closest friends. Friends, who tried to help her with all their strength, but in reality, could do almost nothing. Therefore, Relena wished that this last evening should be adequately remembered by them.

"Do you remember the songs by the bonfire from your childhood?" she asked happily at one point, looking searchingly at their faces, then smiled blithely as ever. "Let's sing something. Together."

Quatre and Trowa initially looked at her with puzzled eyes, as if they thought she had lost her mind, but then complied with her strange wish.

Their initially sluggish, devoid of rhythm rehearsals soon sounded joyful and harmonious as they found familiar songs, known by all of them, and remembered some stanzas. They sang songs from their childhood, the songs from a time when the world was predictable and safe; songs they had listened to and sang with their families, that they had heard in movies or sang at school, marching songs, hymns, and lullabies. Whenever they couldn't remember the words, they simply hummed the beat.

Their singing, heartwarming, joyful, and free, soared over the swamps until they moved on to calmer songs and romantic, sentimental ballads—nameless and derelict songs, whose authors were forgotten over time, but not the songs themselves.

And among them this last ballad followed by silence:

"Beyond the door, there's peace, I'm sure.

And I know there'll be _no more_ tears in heaven."*

(* by Eric Clapton - "Tears in Heaven")

That verse was sung just by Relena, in a trembling voice that broke dangerously halfway through and then died down abruptly after the last word.

Though the lyrics of the song were probably meant to sound comforting, she didn't believe them. She couldn't imagine how badly the heavens must have been left out of peace now and weeping as they watched what was happening here on earth - the abysmal hell that people had doomed for themselves.

Neither of them had said any more words that evening. Soon Trowa and Quatre fell asleep by the fire, and Relena looked into the flames as the lyrics came back through her mind like words of lousy consolation.

And then, when the bonfire was almost out, in the middle of the night… Relena Peacecraft got up and climbed her horse, taking Heero's shotgun with her, without waking the boys up.

In the morning, Quatre and Trowa would discover that she disappeared without a single trace, leaving behind only a letter:

_Quatre, Trowa,_

_I'll always be grateful for your friendship, although I never deserved it. _

_I want you to understand: with Heero's death, I've lost more than just the love of my life. I'm not ready to start living in Evergreen just yet. Thus I'm begging you: don't look for me. I promise you I'll be all right, and you should go back to Evergreen. You're needed there, while you can't help me in any other way. Please, respect my decision._

_I just want you to know that I'm so sorry for everything._

_I hope that when we meet again - because I'm sure we will - I'll find you in good health and embrace you like long unseen, dear friends._

_Please tell Catherine and Sally that I'm still missing them._

_Love, Relena._

x

As the cold night air ruffled her hair, Relena pursed her lips, rushing her horse Treaty into a gallop through the wetlands.

_I'm so sorry_. It was all she could do—repeat that slick, superficial, and evasive confession. While it seemed a relief for the one who asked for forgiveness, in reality, it dredged the divide between the sinner and the one who they sinned against.

She realized that this is what happens when behind these words, hides a truth so terrible that it takes away all the hope.

x

x

x

Relena rode all night.

She flashed through the world plunged in darkness like a night wraith wandering from the afterlife, unable to find eternal peace because of unfinished matters left on the earth. She galloped around abandoned villages and wound through swamps and rivers to lose her tracks. Only the stars and the bright moon illuminated her path, but Treaty was racing ahead without hesitation as if he perfectly knew the way.

Not encountering any obstacles in their way, they reached the coast just before dawn.

Slowing down, Relena looked around cautiously, realizing that almost _nothing has changed_. Maybe the tide had brought some more dry branches and pieces of wreckage to the beach. Perhaps the bushes around the crumbling houses and the fallen electric poles were a little more overgrown. Maybe it was quieter than the last time, as nature was holding her breath in that tense moment just before sunrise.

_Their_ stilt beach house was still standing intact - the way she and Heero had left it less than two months ago.

As she reached the beach, Relena got off Treaty. She patted the side of the horse's neck, letting him amble freely nearby, while she wrapped her sweatshirt tightly around herself and stepped onto the sand.

The seashore was deserted. The sea air was crisp and transparent like a glass of the highest quality, and a gentle breeze carried the intense, moisty scent of sea salt. As Relena took off her shoes, she felt the cold surface of sand under her feet, slightly damp, kneading under her steps. She strolled a few more meters towards the shore, then sat down on the sand, drawing her knees under her chin.

She looked east.

Beyond the horizon, at the distant sky, a breathtaking projection of the changing colors began. Hundreds of small clouds and banks were gently floating over the bay. As dawn approached, the line of junction of heaven and sea started gradually burning brighter with each passing second, releasing successive waves of colors into the sky: purple, light blue, pink, orange, finally golden. All these colors seemed only apparently chaotically jumbled together as if were spilled over on the careless painter's palette, but matched each other in perfect harmony.

Relena watched the spectacle with bated breath, watching excitedly that primeval, doomed battle of darkness with brightness. After a while, she finally felt a touch of warm light on her cheeks and shoulders as the golden globe slipped out over the horizon, wearily, as if it didn't want to look at this world at all; Relena thought it wouldn't be surprising if the sun really thought so. Oddly enough, she felt relieved and grateful to the sun that it had risen - this one more time.

At that beautiful moment, wrapped in the eternal whisper of the waves, Relena felt genuinely grateful.

She was _fortunate_ to be born; _fortunate_ because she survived for so many years and dangers; _fortunate_ because she had wonderful parents and a brother whom she miraculously managed to see again, no matter the circumstances; _fortunate_ because she had friends she could count on and would never forget them; _fortunate_ because she had met a man she loved and who had lifted the hem of his complicated soul for her, though never stopped intriguing her; _fortunate_ because, in a few months, she would give birth to a child to whom she will try to show and explain that Earth, apart from the fact that can be dangerous, is in itself the greatest wonder of which... we, as humans, are _fortunate_ to be an inseparable part.

Though this scary world was not supposed to change, she didn't resent it of anything… how could she, while she was still alive, still breathing... and gazing at this beautiful festival of lights-

..._waiting for him_.

The golden, Elysian globe gradually began to detach itself from its reflection in the sea, rising upwards. The bright, daytime blue sky was slowly driving away all the magic colors to the west. Somewhere nearby, she heard a cry of seagulls taking flight, and soon a small flock of these birds flew across the sky to the west. Relena tilted her head to look that way…

…and she finally spotted him.

He was riding a horse at an unhurried pace across the shallows at the far west end of the beach. The horse's hooves rammed evenly against the water surface, sloshing thousands of tiny droplets into the air, and its black mane blew gently in the breeze.

Even though he was still far away, Relena knew - felt - that he already spotted her too. Her heart pounded so hard it ached. She shivered as if an electric current had passed through her. She felt an irresistible and exciting impatience warming up her insides, that almost made her get up and run towards him across the shallows, to drag him off the horse's back and make love to him on the beach...

However, he took his time and led his horse calmly and slowly, not speeding up a bit, approaching her slowly like a revenant. His slender form on his proud, tall steed cast a soft shadow over the water beneath that faded gradually as the world continued to fill with morning light. Relena pressed her legs closer to her chest and rested her head on her knees as she watched him, controlling the beating of her heart as it almost jumped out of her chest.

When he eventually stopped and got off his horse, she knew only by watching his movements that his wounds weren't still wholly healed. As he jumped down from the saddle into the shallow water a few meters away from her, his right leg slightly trembled, though he didn't lose his balance. But his left arm hung limply in his sling. The sight stung her heart painfully.

He took off the bit and loosened the girth, then released the horse free. Zero stamped his hooves happily, as if out of relief, splashing the water around and trotted across the shallows to meet Treaty.

Any more waiting was too much than Relena could stand, and she got up, directing her steps towards the man. He turned towards her as well, though he walked much slower. They approached each other bit by bit like two indrawing molecules. Meter by meter, second by second, breath by breath... there was no need to rush.

They both stopped in the water, right on the edge of the shallows, attracted to each other by an invisible, magnetic force. It was quite a challenge to stay within each other's reach without hurling into each other's arms. They gazed at each other with the first humans' fascination and the longing of ones that waited centuries for this day.

"You've come," she welcomed him in a calm, slightly breathy voice.

"...yeah," Heero sighed.

The look on his face told her that perhaps he didn't believe it himself yet, but her heart quivered with emotion at the mere sound of his deep and slightly hoarse voice, that she didn't hear for so long. "Did I make you wait?" he asked.

She smiled, and the shook of her head was her only reply. Then she reached out and grasped his right hand. The skin of his palm was pleasantly warm to the touch, slightly coarse and dried from the dry sea air, and she sensed under her fingertips every unevenness, every fold, especially… the dished bite wound. It was healed, the upswelling and blisters that covered the wound were almost gone.

He was so _real_.

"I was scared," Relena looked up at him, chasing away the memories, "that I'd believe you were dead. And that… you wouldn't come here."

_The so well known to her and beloved shade of broken blue suddenly flashed through his parted eyelids, and he breathed a shallow, trembled breath. She stared at him in bewilderment, her mouth parted_ _while her throat was still tight from crying. It worked so much faster than she had expected…_

"_Heero-_

_Please, don't move. Don't speak. Just breathe… and listen to what I have to say. _

_I don't have much time. Soon Quatre and Trowa might come here, looking for me. _

_They can't find you._

_I took care of your wounds, stopped all the bleeding. It's all right now. Those crates around you happen to be full of Fireflies' supplies. You can stay here for a few days until you regain your strength._

_We'll survive, Heero. You're not gonna turn. __The vaccine… or whatever it was… _

_It saved you."_

He looked somewhat shyly back at her, then his gaze wandered down to the perfectly visible, scarring-over wound on her chest. Suddenly, he slipped his hand from her loose grip and lifted it as if he wanted to touch the injury, but hesitated, his fingers hovering mere millimeters above her skin as if touch might burn him. The tone of his eyes darkened to a hue of the boisterous sea as he stared at the mark that would surely remain on her body for all eternity, as a visible reminder that he had hurt her.

"I should've died there, Relena."

Relena held her breath, involuntarily recalling the flashback of that nightmarish moment.

"Why are you telling me that?" she whispered. "After what I've done… you're hurting me now."

He locked his cautious gaze on her wound, while his fingers lowered gently against her skin, feelingly stroking the disfiguring, scarred protrusion.

"It's entirely my fault that you were faced with such a choice. I wasn't able to end my life before I turned... Before you had found me-"

"Stop it."

His gaze drifted up and locked onto her eyes mutely, and an unnamed emotion flickered across his face while her heart lurched painfully at his startling confession. Another shudder ran through her body at the contradiction; his touch on her skin was intimate and soothing, but his words were harsh and cold-hearted, piercing through her heart.

"Do you remember what did you say yourself when I had been bitten?" she whispered, touching his hand on her chest. "You said: _how is that supposed to be fair, to die with salvation in the reach of your hand…_"

He looked back at her intensely, the storm in his eyes intensifying at the recollection on his own words. He balled up a fist under her fingers, apparently controlling the unrest tormenting his soul and reflecting in the dark-blue sheet of his look, half-shrouded by long bangs.

"You've chosen differently, Relena. You did what _I_ hadn't dared to do. The chances that the vaccine would work were zero. It could not have worked on me at all. I could have killed you-" Heero stopped short and swallowed hard. "…I almost did."

She couldn't look away from him. Her body still remembered the atavistic, overwhelming pain and fear she had felt that day, while her memory came back to the words that Dr. Noin had said to her before her death.

_For you, it's only one person_…

Those were ambiguous words with so many different meanings… But when Relena had later found out about Heero and had gotten the key from Milliardo, those words had allowed her to stick to the absurd and nonsensical hope that the vaccine, or whatever the substance it actually was, might still work. And this small hope worked like blinders - taking away any logical thinking, forcing Relena to take this risk and the responsibility for all possible consequences…

"If I was faced with the same choice once more, I would act the same again."

His eyes twitched while she scowled at him, fearlessly.

"Whatever choice I made, I had to sacrifice something: either my love for you, my life, or the rescue for humanity for the sake of which my father and so many other people laid down their lives or hoped for," she declared, barely controlling her shaky voice. "Any choice meant killing a part of myself. Any choice was sinful and painful… so much that being devoured by an infected is _no pain_ compared to what I took on."

"Relena-" Heero sighed, but stopped short, as she cupped his cheek in a remarkably loving gesture.

"However, the choice was paradoxically _simple,_" Relena whispered so softly as if she was telling him her biggest secret, "I wouldn't leave you there. Even if you would kill me."

He gazed at her, with an impossibly soulful and heartbroken look in his eyes.

"And yet…" he said, "it would have been better for _the world_ if we both didn't survive back then."

Relena dropped her eyes, her hand slipped down his cheek, and she shivered as the sea breeze grew significantly robust around them.

"…perhaps you're right."

There were no more words to say on this subject. The two stood in profound and thoughtful silence, knowing that it was a bitter truth that would mark their fate forever. Sacrificing _her_ life could have saved millions, and the only existing portion of a vaccine that could have saved millions had been used up to keep _him_ alive.

Surviving, they both sinned against mankind.

This sorrowful truth took root violently within them, inflicting painful wounds that refused to scar over. It was eating into their flesh and making itself at home within them like a ravenous parasite. With each passing day, the burden of their sin felt like a poorly sewn piece of clothing yet deliberately worn by them every single day, never letting itself be forgotten.

As the fresh morning breeze blew, Relena looked briefly over her shoulder toward the sun hovering over the horizon, and then Heero simply grasped her hand in his firm grip. Her head snapped back at him; the look on his face turned suddenly so kind and peaceful. After all this time, he was here… so real, so alive.

Heero swiftly turned her hand in his and interlaced their fingers, closing on her.

"What about Quatre and Trowa?" he asked, looking down.

"…They're perfectly fine," Relena replied, also fixing her gaze at her bare feet immersed in chilly water. As she slowly walked at his side, his arm gently rubbed against hers. "I sneaked out in the middle of the night. I don't think they're looking for me."

Heero snorted softly in response. "I'm convinced they are."

Relena smiled sadly to herself. _Yes, knowing them, they surely didn't give up that easily_. But she predicted it. "I left them a letter, I was covering my tracks. I'm sure no one will find us here."

She sensed he was glancing at her stealthily, but she felt unable to look back at him.

"We can't go back. We can never return to Evergreen," she said. "That's the price we have to pay."

"…I know."

"_I know what you're thinking, Heero. What I did was so unimaginably selfish…_

_I broke the word I had given to my father, and I betrayed his trust. Duo had given his life so I could escape, bring this world to a change. I failed the hopes of Quatre, Trowa, Catherine, Sally, Sylvia, and all the Evergreen people. The Fireflies' efforts, the people who were sacrificed for the sake of science, Noin, Milliardo - all this for nothing._

_And I will never be able to keep the promise I had made to you. _

_All is lost. The world will continue as it is now. There will be neither a drug nor a vaccine. Never._

_To the world, you're dead, Heero. And I don't want to live in a world without you. I have to disappear, too. And there's only one place where I'd rather be."_

_Before she stood up, she left a kiss on his forehead and squeezed his right hand._

"…_Please, promise me that you'll meet me there."_

The light reflected in a billion diamonds in the crystal-clear waves of the sea that wrapped around their ankles when Relena suddenly noticed that Heero shot a sidelong glance at her slightly rounded belly.

Her stomach tightened, but he remained stubbornly silent, and she nervously combed her fingers through her unbound hair.

The air between them seemed to thicken with unspoken, _belated_ words.

"They think… that you're dead. It better stays that way," Relena continued in a shaky voice, trying to keep the conversation going. "They don't know, and they never knew about the vaccine. One person in the world who has survived an infected bite is already _too many, _anyway. If they found out that there was a vaccine and that I used it to save you-"

"Relena."

Heero suddenly addressed her with just a little bit of tremor in his voice, stopping and turning to face her. His thumb grazed the top of her hand, while his gaze drifted carefully up over her entire form until it locked on her eyes.

"Since when did you know?"

Relena stared back at him for a long moment, entirely understanding what he meant. There was no reason to hide it anymore, it was also unimportant from where he knew about it, plus, at that moment, it was already perfectly well visible. Not to mention that he had a right to know...

She instinctively jerked her hand away from his grip but was unable to tear her eyes away from his thoughtful gaze.

"…since Evergreen," she eventually let out her answer in a silent whisper.

"…" Heero swallowed hard, his body suddenly going very still. "How long…?"

Relena clasped her hands together in front of her.

"It's around the fourth month."

Hearing those words, Heero closed his eyes and breathed air into his lungs as if trying to keep his composure, then a pained expression painted on his features.

"Heero-"

"…all because I wouldn't have let you go like this?"

Relena studied him as he spoke quietly, with a low, placid voice, but reproachfully.

"You preferred to keep it in secret, refuse food when you felt sick, cover your body even in front of me, and dash away early in the morning so that I wouldn't have noticed that you were vomiting-"

He paused abruptly, without taking his eyes off her as if he desperately waited to hear her denial. However, Relena remained uneasily silent, gazing back at him, and he continued after giving a sigh.

"Why did you take that burden entirely on your shoulders? I wasn't blind, Relena. I noticed that something wasn't right, but I didn't expect that I might _not_ know… That you could keep something like that from me. And yet you have been lying to me… for entire weeks."

Those quiet words of his really hurt her, and the feeling of guilt almost blacked out everything around her. All because they were so _true_ and she couldn't turn back time.

"Be honest with me, Heero-"

"_I_'ve always been honest with you."

She shuddered at the harsh tone of his voice.

"Please, hear me out. What would you do if I told you? Back then, at the party... if I had told you then, wouldn't you have left me and go alone?"

He looked back at her mutely, but she read the answer in his eyes.

"I was protecting you, too, Heero. You've always run into danger after me. You've been through a lot during this journey, completely ignoring your safety, your life. If I had to count all the wounds you suffered because of me-"

Relena walked over to him and touched his chest. When he didn't shrug her hand off his chest, she slid it up to his neck and brushed the unruly bangs away.

"I lied to you because I didn't want you to take all this risk alone. I don't want to excuse myself but-" her voice broke, and eyes glistened, yet Relena didn't allow herself cry even a single tear, slowly shaking her head, "all this time… there hasn't been one _second_ when I didn't want to tell you…"

Heero's expression flickered and eventually softened, as he smoothed her hair away from her face with his only hand. When his fingertips brushed her cheek, Relena closed her eyes and leaned onto his touch, breathing deeply in his familiar scent. When she opened her eyes, the feeling of defeat clouded her senses again.

"Oh, god… I'm so sorry," Relena sighed.

He shook his head, sorrow and guilt crossed his face. "It's okay now-"

"It's not…! All these sacrifices we made throughout those months to change this world... so that death would no longer lurk around each corner… And now that there are no Fireflies and no vaccine left... I failed, I failed my father, I failed you, I failed everybody-"

"Relena," Heero made her stop in mid-sentence and leaned closer towards her, whispering so softly that his voice almost faded in the sea breeze, "it doesn't matter anymore. We're alive. That's the only thing that matters right now."

She looked at him, feeling defeated and desperately searching for comfort he was offering her, but which seemed impossible to achieve.

"Back in the hospital, I thought that this feeling of guilt would be so painful that it would ultimately kill me," she said. "When I rode here... I imagined you would be resentful. Disappointed. That you would pass judgment on me. But it turned out that you're comforting me."

His intense expression clouded slightly while Heero Yuy remained silent. Crystals of golden light from the rising sun reflected in his deep-blue irises. Unable to read his mind, Relena felt misunderstood as if he was mocking her.

"How can you take it so calmly? We both believed that we would change this world. But now… there will be no change. The world will continue to be this _hell on earth_. People will still die inhaling spores, attacked by the infected, chased like rats..."

"You're right."

When he finally spoke, she stopped cold, looking at him with fear and anxiety.

"This world's fucked up," he summed up calmly, "but I don't want to be anywhere else. It is here in this hell on earth where you've found me."

And then he moved his head, and Relena shivered, feeling his shamelessly heartfelt but agonizingly brief kiss on her lips. Left breathless and almost stunned, she gazed at him as he pulled back only slightly...

"If I was faced with a choice…" he whispered against her lips, "I'd rather die today, even now, at your side, than live for a hundred years in any other universe without you."

Every inch of her skin yearned for his touch, and when he took her lips again, Relena almost lost her mind. She wound up her arms around his neck, her hands found their way into his hair, while he wrapped his right arm around her back, pressing her whole form against him. She voraciously deepened the kiss, craving the taste of him like air, and he let out a soft grunt like a sigh of relief. His arm on the sling stuck between their bodies, but when she pulled back a bit, afraid to hurt him, he drew her even closer, never letting go and kissing her fervently and lovingly as never before. And she clung to him desperately, as if he was the last man standing on earth.

Although the world they fought for was never to come, and they stood in the middle of its ruins and ashes, Relena could already feel a germinating feeling within her that lit up her soul, like the rising sun she watched this morning.

Hope.

That stubborn creature that, despite everything, would always continue to live on, even if the whole world burned.

"We'll survive it. I'll protect you… _both_," Heero declared when he broke the kiss, pressing his forehead to hers. "Always. Not only when you'll think you need it. Even when you'll want to hide your pain from me."

"Heero…" Relena's voice wobbled. "I-"

"Please," he cut her short, "hold out your hand."

She looked at him uncertainly, then obediently held out her hand. As Heero took a small, almost weightless object from his pocket and placed it on the center of her palm, she sighed with excitement, recognizing the cowries pendant he had given her on the same beach. The same he had torn off her neck...

"You've got it…!," she gasped. "I thought I've lost it forever."

Some non-physical pain flashed through his gaze, and Heero clenched the fingers of his right hand around the shamefully unmoving wrist of his left hand, still hung on a sling.

"This time… you have to put it on by yourself."

Understanding what he meant, Relena let her saddened gaze drop while she held the necklace in her hands, inspecting the broken loose string. Then, as if nothing happened, she put the pendant in her shirt pocket and grabbed Heero's limp left hand, gently pulling it out of the sling.

Heero watched her actions in silence, although his gaze was full of tension and embarrassment as if he wanted to tear his useless limb out of her caring grip. Relena took his hand in both of hers, gently, slowly moving his wrist and all his fingers…

The hand, though limp, was still warm...

"Relena," she heard Heero's slightly impatient sigh, "it's useless. I can't..."

She looked up at him with a forgiving smile.

"There's no rush. I'll wait," she said. "Until the day you'll fasten it around my neck again."

Although he certainly didn't believe it himself, maybe didn't even dare to hope for it, Heero didn't say anything and merely looked back at her with thoughtful, calm eyes. Still smiling, Relena lifted his arm above her head, and whipped around, as if it was him who spun her around in a dance. Then she rested her back against his firm chest, and they both faced the timeless sea. The world around them shone with a riot of bright colors, illuminated by white, almost heavenly rays of light, and the waves flickered as if someone had scattered a handful of diamonds on their surface.

"What now?"

"Hm?"

"You're dead, I'm missing, the world will stay the way it is," she summed their situation, stroking his arms wrapped around her shoulders. "Will we be all right? It's gonna be tough…"

He thought for a moment. "It wasn't easy from the beginning."

Relena gazed at him over her shoulder. "What are we going to do _now_?"

He smiled at her charmingly, and as Relena faced the sea again, she felt him press his face to the side of hers.

"Breathe," she heard his low and vibrant whisper. "Now, close your eyes and just _breathe_, Relena… As deeply and as freely as you possibly can."

x

**THE END**

x

* * *

Well, that's it!

You can't imagine how hard it was for me to keep you in suspense for the last few chapters, but it was necessary. However, if some of you believed that Heero died for real, then my writing assignment has been accomplished. The vaccine worked in a way that only Noin could expect because only she had examined it (albeit superficially). She expressed it in her words to Relena, and this was how she saved Heero, whether she wanted it or not…

I'm a supporter of bittersweet endings, such as they usually are in life. Life is never black and white but full of various shades of gray, and all our actions have long-term consequences. After a lot of hardship throughout their journey, Heero and Relena ultimately survived, although the whole world paid a lavish ransom for it. They will live, but with the feeling of guilt and isolation. Undoubtedly, it cannot remain without an impact on their future life... but that's already another story.

It's a great moment to mention, once again, that Gundam Wing and The Last of Us don't belong to me. However, I will be eternally grateful to their rightful creators for those stories that left their mark on my life and enriched me, inspiring me, allowing my imagination to flourish.

I sincerely express my regretting to all the native speakers for my mistakes and linguistic inaccuracies. Still, I want to express my endless gratitude for following the story despite these shortcomings!

Last but not least: I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who supported me from the very beginning of writing this story. In particular, my most loyal commentators: Mistaken-Miracles, Hellocat42, sushidango. Yours and all the other readers' comments gave me encouragement and the will to bring this story to an end (worthwhile one, I hope). I also want to thank each and every one of my readers who simply followed the story without revealing themselves up. It was an honor to have an audience like you!

Stay safe, everyone. Until next time!

Hugs,

~enelle


End file.
